State funeral

I accompanied my aunt to church this morning in her old neighbourhood of Serangoon.  As we were early, we drove around and saw how her old house (and many others) had changed from simple single storey to typically three. After church, we had a simple lunch at home.  The heavens had opened and wept for […]

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A nation in mourning

We managed to get our last-minute paid upgrade to Business Class for the flight to Singapore departing at 0115. Despite the ungodly timing, I stayed up for the supper service before sleeping, because I was hungry. I had expected to skip it in favour of a longer downtime but my tummy rules. I did have […]

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Leaving home

Kim and I flew to Singapore at 0115. We had separate purposes for the trip. I was on one of my regular trips to see family combined with a minibreak around Tokyo afterwards. But for him, it was a short stay in Singapore before going to Kuala Lumpur for the Grand Prix.

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Arrive home (blank)

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Hot spring

We were a bit worried about the weather impacting our flight back.  We were told not to worry; I guess the locals can read the weather better than we can. We explored a bit more of the island by car today, taking in the Kaitoke hot spring which involved a scenic hike. By the time […]

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Big drive-around

I woke up feeling like a brand new person compared to yesterday evening!  I had more than 11 hours sleep instead of my usual 6! We spent the day exploring as much of the island as we could.  Lunch at Port Fitzroy consisted of a delicious burger but the staff were dippy beyond reality.  First […]

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Flying to the Barrier

Above:  Flying to Great Barrier at low altitude. It was only a 30 minute flight from Auckland to the Barrier on a Britten Norman Islander.  We left from North Shore Airfield rather than Auckland Airport, not only because of the proximity to our home but also to avoid parking hassles/costs at a big airport. Due […]

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Arrive home (blank)

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On the live volcanic island!

We checked in at the office of Pee Jay White Island Tours in the morning and paid for our trip before heading to the boat. The 90 minute journey to White Island started with us leaving the Whakatane River going past the sandbar (which can due to tidal conditions determine the departure time). As we […]

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Down to the Bay of Plenty

We left Auckland late morning after my yoga class, for the 3.5h drive to Whakatane.  It was necessary to overnight because the starting time tomorrow was unconfirmed till the evening due to tidal conditions.  It has been quite a while since I travelled outside of Auckland and it’s nice to be reminded how beautiful New […]

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