Farewell Singapore, hello Autumn.

We (well, Jen and her Tetris-powers) packed our belongings into our travel luggage first thing, and checked out of Fraser Place. The lovely folk there allowed us to store our baggage there for the day - handy, as we'd be spending it at Universal Studios - Sentosa Isand. Negotiating the MRT like pros, we disembarked at HarbourFront Station and once again made our way across Sentosa Boardwalk.

Sentosa Boardwalk with what the kids
described as 'giraffes' (shipping cranes)
in the background.

Getting my Google on, it turns our Sentosa used to be known as Island of the Dead - welp, that's certainly a chipper title. Singapore once again turned on a Sauna of a day, after threatening rain earlier in the morning. 

Hollywood Boulevard - bestrewn with selfie-sticks.

Much to the bigger kids' chagrin (mine, not so much), the Battlestar Galactica ride was closed for repairs. The imposing roller coaster structure now no more than an overly-enthusiastic art installation. We took consolation that the Transformers - the ride exhibit was still available in all its 40-minute air-conditioned queue glory. The ride was fantastic, and set the bar for the day. 

Who's just been down the virtual
gullet of a robotic nightmare?
We have!

The ambient temperature went from Sauna to Strangely damp blast furnace as we rounded the bend and arrived in Ancient Egypt. Compared to the predicted 40 minute waits at other rides, the Revenge of the Mummy ride only had a wait time of 10 minutes. Initially figuring it was but a 4D filmic experience, we soon discovered the ride entailed not only animatronics, but also being hurled around at terrific speeds in a very real sense - often in complete darkness. Our minds were blown. 

I'm not sure what we did, but
the Mummy sure did have its revenge.

Ancient Egypt rolled seamlessly into an area of the park overrun with dinosaurs - as well as girls with selfie-sticks and guys with practiced, non-selfie stick poses of their own. 

Jen and the older two kids jumped on the Canopy Flyer, while Josh and I minded the bags *cough* down on terra firma.

Fortunately, Lily's footwear remain attached to her,
and not flung deep into the Lost World.

We back-tracked to Ancient Egypt to clamber for some Slushies. I opted for the very naturally coloured and flavoured Blueberry. 

Far, far away Land is - as it turns out - just up the road from The Lost World. We tried out Puss in Boots - Giant's Journey, a ride that was deceptively fast - at least in my books!  During the queue, a fairly pushy yet diminutive Mum and her boisterous son kept boucing off me from behind. Cute. Fortunately, the impacts were so faint, I didn't even need to resort to the frown. 

Far Far Away - not really.

From here, the kids lined up for a standard roller-coaster, while Jen, Josh and I beat a retreat into the air-conditioned comfort of Shrek- 4D Adventure. This was more interactive than I had figured - and I'd heartily recommend it to anyone with an aversion to spiders :)

Puss in Boots - Giant's Journey. 

The sun was fairly beating down as we circled past the Madagascar zone, forcing us into a souvenir shop just to get a brief A/C reprieve. All the way around in the Hollywood zone (completing a full circle of the park), we made our way into Mel's Diner, where we purchased black-bunned burgers (it's a thing over here), as well as onion rings, fries and shakes. 

Obligatory pose.

We were a hot mess once we made it back to HarbourFront - and picked up more drinks, dutifully consumining them before making our way onto the MRT. We disembarked at Fort Canning Station (we'd begun to think of it as our own), and collected our bags from Fraser Place reception. On our way back to the station, one of the Concierges (now off-duty) happened to be catching the same train as us. He wished us well with a genuine hand-shake. Lovely man.

We managed to score seats and rode the Downtown Line to its conclusion at Expo Station, before changing lines to Changi Airport. The rain finally started coming down in earnest outside as we checked our bags in. Our seat designations initially had Lily sitting across an aisle from the rest of us, and next to a random stranger. I volunteered to swap spots - and inadvertantly struck gold. There was no random stranger seated next to me - just an empty seat. I still didn't manage to sleep a wink, but Lily managed to have both the person seated behind her and across the aisle be fairly demonstrably ill.

There was a genuinely cool breeze blowing as we left the Sydney Airport Arrivals terminal - a world away from the 'Feels like' 40 degrees of downtown Singapore. Hello Autumn.

Touchdown at Sydney Airport - either 7am or 5am,
depending how you looked at it.

Just in time for peak-hour, Jen and I swapped out driving duties multiple times on the way back from Sydney (it had been 25 hours and counting since my last actual shut-eye). Much energy drink and sugar was consumed to assist us. The kids were strangely silent...

We arrived home, with all plants and animals looking in tip-top shape (the contents of the fridge, on the other hand - not so much due to a power outage). The dogs' exuberant attentions (toward me in particular) had absolutely nothing to do with someone wearing the same socks for approximately 28 hours straight.

Memories of Singapore:

• Powered scooters and Renta-bikes absolutely careening through pedestrian areas.
• Jen's observation of a lady with very long, very manicured - toenails. What?
• The Cantonese/Singlese translator lady on the MRT PA system (advising to 'mind the gap'). To our untrained ears sounding very much like, "Happy, happy - you go on the platform".
• Speaking of the MRT - the public service videos shown in the carriages themselves. Over-acting and human drama are featured prominently.
• Breaking into a sweat standing still both before breakfast and even around midnight.
• Devotion to hand-held devices, commuters walking by bouncing off others - dodgem car style.
• Pokka's Sparklin' Fuji Apple Juice Drink. So, so good.
• The entire island being one, big, tropical garden.
• The absolute diversity of the Singaporean populace.
• The diversity of Singapore itself, from the dizzying heights of Marina Bay Sands, to the earthy / SE Asian Changi area, to the good-natured elbow-rubbing of fellow gastromes in Lau Pa Sat.
• Reaching the half-way point on the second escalator down to Fort Canning Station. The welcome coolness washing over you like a dip in a moistureless pool.