G: Megablog

Hostel, 26^th, 4pm. Not sure if I’ve mentioned what dinner was. Guests can get a token from reception each afternoon to get a free meal, or use the kitchen

 We went to sleep really early yesterday. I didn’t have a very good night, though I got enough rest. I found that I’d half wake and figures from my dream would appear to be in the room. We got up in time for ‘breakfast’ which was a basket of fruit and a bag of bread. There’s a kitchen here, so guests can prepare other food for themselves if they want. I had an apple, Aiden had plain toast. I don’t need more than that, but Aiden wants to get some jam or something (if he remembers to).

We went on the computer and Aiden transferred some money to the cashcard account, that will clear in 3-4 days, and checked the Greyhound schedule. It didn’t look very encouraging, so we’re going to stop by the station when we go into town, to get our proper passes and book our first journey. I opened some email from my parents, and that made me tear up. It was quite hard to read and reply, I’m even welling up now, because of the emotional realisation of the distance. I look forward to the first Skype call on Monday.

Aiden needed more sustenance, so we went to Subway and he got a small sandwich. We went across to the post office, and I managed to finally get a scrapbook.

We hung about in our room. Aiden went through our videos and pictures, and I stuck in the stuff I’d saved for the scrapbook. At 11.30 we then went down to meet Chris. He had said he was coming with is but for various reasons he didn’t. We got driven the 3 minute drive to the botanical gardens, and Chris pointed us the direction of a boardwalk to start with. This was quite pleasant. It wasn’t raining, and we walked through thick swamp, as well as past a lake.

We went around the gardens, which obviously beat the Cambridge ones, with lots of tropical flora, and leaves the length of a man. It started raining. At the edge of it we found the start of a hill walk Chris had said would be good to do. I was hesitant and unsure I wanted to do it, but Aiden persuaded me. We walked uphill past a small stream and gradually came to steps. It was hard work, and the rain continued.

At the top was a viewpoint, looking over the runway, which was quite nice, and kind of worth the walk up there. As we stood there, the rain started to come down even harder, and the mist increased enough to cover the view. Aiden pointed out that if we had arrived later than we did, we might not have even known the airport was there. He also pointed out that if such a vantage point was situated near an English airport, it would have no access whatsoever, because of the potential for an attack.

The rain continued really hard – the beating down type of rain that we get occasionally in England that wears off after five minutes – and we started down the other side of the path. We were drenched at this point; I had my coat on, but Aiden had only his t-shirt. Our shoes will not dry out for days. Each step was puddled, and the little stream we had passed was now 5 times as big, pelting down the hillside. Most of our conversation was based on these facts.

We had almost got to the end when we saw that we would have wade through a flooded part of the path up to our ankles, about 4 foot across. This was quite amusing. However, I was far from amused when we went further along and found that 10 foot of knee deep water lay between us and the rest of the path, including a stretch through a new running tributary of the flooded stream. It was horrible, especially being tugged by the current – we had to take shuffling baby steps to avoid going over.

We finally made it back to the gardens, and used a payphone to ring Chris, who sent the minibus out to us. We waited in the rain for about 20 minutes, then went down the road looking for the bus, then came back and waited a bit longer. We eventually rang again, and Chris said the guy couldn’t find us. We waited around for a further 20 minutes, then gave up and started the walk back, which we had been told was fifteen minutes. We had wanted the bus to get out of the wet and relax after so much walking already. Of course, 5 minutes in, we saw the bus and hailed it, to be brought back. Aiden told our story to Chris, who as lovely enough to give us towels for free, when normally they are $5 to rent.

Hostel, 27^th, 8pm. Dinner was a horrible straugonaff , so Aiden had steak instead, for an extra $5. I was zonked, so I literally just went to bed then. Aiden downloaded something to watch, then watched it, apparently.

Have I mentioned the rain? It has not really stopped since we got to Cairns. It was worst on the hill, but it has a real effect. We have adapted very quickly, so we don’t really notice. My Northface trousers, turned into shorts with a handy zip, are perfect – the denim ones not so much. And I am glad I brought the coat, if only it covers my bumbag. My other bag is not faring so well. It’s alright in light fall, but anything heavier, and everything inside gets damp.

Apart from the rain, one of the other things on my mind is my bug bites. I got one on my face in Singapore, and in Oz so far, I have a good twenty on my legs, including the back of my knees. It’s so hard not to scratch!

So today, we were up at 6.30am, to get picked up for our Cape Tribulation tour at 7.30am. A lovely guy called Billy was in charge, our first Aussie that we have spoken to more than over a counter. He found out where everyone was from when he picked them, so he was able to introduce everyone to everyone. We were all English, except a Canadian and a Scot, about 15 of us on an ancient minibus.

We were about half way through the pickups, so there were already people on the bus, but a few more to pick up. After the last person, Billy drove us to give a guy called Jeremy our levy, then we were off. He gave us a rundown of the day, and then talked us through the 2 hours journey with information and history of the animals and area, which I found very interesting. He did it in a funny and charismatic way.

We took a picturesque coastal road from Palm Cove to Port Douglas called the Captain Cook Highway, and stopped at Mossman Gorge, a site I think on the Daintree River that is special to the Kuku Yalanji Aborigines. It’s sort of the start of the rainforest, and there was a boardwalk and a path that looped back to the carpark.

Billy told us about some of the plants along the way, and there was a lookout over the river, plus a swing bridge. By this point Aiden and I had pseudo-friended the Canadian girl, a 23yrold on a 6 month trip around the world. This was the place that people could go swimming in the winter, but because the river was very high and fast (rainfall), we were not able to. Aiden is worried that we have been here for a week, and not swum. We saw a forest dragon (small lizard) up close on a tree.

We got back on the bus and went to Gill and Donna’s Crocodile Farm, or the Daintree Zoo. We walked around the small number of enclosures, and saw some large saltwater crocs, and a cassowary (bird like an emu with a big triangular bone on its head and a blue wattle), as well as a very friendly emu and some smaller animals, including two types of kookaburra. We then got a well-wanted cup of tea (included) with some biscuits, and we got to know Karen (the Canadian) a little better. Aiden had a big burger, which cost extra.

The road at this point went right through the rainforest, so it was uphill sometimes, quite bumpy and twisty, and very flooded at a lot of points. There were even a few minor landslides.

To be continued...

G: End of the stayover and off to the Land of Oz

Hostel, 24th, 5.30pm. To continue from the end of the last post: We left the hostel and checked out at about 10.30am, and made our way to Little India, just across the river from us. It's not very big, but you can tell you've arrived immediately because of the contrast to the rest of the city we had seen. Lots of non-Roman script over the shops, selling flower garlands, incense, saris, gold jewellery, everything I recognised from my RS lessons! We soon came to end of one of the main streets, so we beat a path through some of the other streets until we had had our fill and headed back to Orchard Road.

We had lunch at some Westernised fast food stores at the Cathay shopping centre. We haven't experienced any Asian food! I got Kentucky-fried-imitation chicken and A. had pizza. My food came with something the menu called a 'biscuit', that was like a savoury scone-type baked ball. I tasted it, but didn't fancy it. We then did something less than conventional - we went to the cinema, top floor of the Cathay. We went to see Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher in 'No Strings Attached'. I really enjoyed it! It was in English but we had to ignore the Chinese subtitles. Lots mushy stuff for me to enjoy. Afterwards, A. stuck vehemently to the opinion that I am like the Portman character - good at being alone, not interested in emotions and relationships - several people can attest the fact that I'm not like that (please do!) - as well as a tendency to avoid conflict - has he even met me?? - and the type not to show pain. Well, I moan and cry about stuff all the time, most people know that. I implore someone to tell A. he's wrong! Tee hee.

That ended at 3pm, so we had some time to kill until going to the airport.

On the plane, 25^th, 3.00am Australian time (1am our time). After the cinema, we walked some new streets to get to the Singapore National Library. I had come across it when researching things to do. A. was not too thrilled, so I was not able to spend as much time there as I would have liked. It was very nice, and I even found some books I recognised. It has a drama centre in the top floor, and a research library for the nearby university, as well as newspapers and a ‘multi-functional room’.

Quickly leaving the building we headed for the Plaza Singpura, a shopping centre near the Cathay that we had been in before. It was the place A. had a crepe. We went back to the same café, and got some crepes, which were delicious. We finally headed back to the hostel, and chillaxed for an hour in the first floor lounge, on beanbags. It was hard not to be distracted by the TV, even though the channel it was on had mostly Malay being spoken.

Oh, that’s something I forgot to mention that Angry Albert told us – There are 4 official languages of Singapore, all of which can be used in parliament. The most common language, the one that all the people speak as the crossover language, is English. Then there’s also Malay, Chinese and Tamur (not sure on the spelling – it’s an Indian dialect).

Downstairs, we retrieved our luggage, I placed on mine the new green tag I had purchased, and eventually the taxi showed up. It was a very nice town car, that both of us remarked on. We chatted idly on the way to the airport about the earthquake in Christchurch (which we fly into in 7 weeks), riding motorcycles, and the fact that a grey, cloudy sky like the one we were looking at combined with the rain drops on the windows reminded us of home.

Singapore airport is nice. We knew this before we left (there’s a flipping swimming pool in it!) but we didn’t have a lot of time to appreciate it on the first journey. This time I bought a doughnut from Dunkin’ Doughnuts, and we exchanged our S$ for A$, and we also got access to the airport-wide free wireless internet, though A. was frustrated by the slow speed of the connection. He also regretted not having his trunks!

We got through security, but I was thoroughly vexed when I was pulled up and told I had forgotten to remove my sun cream from my hand luggage, which meant it was confiscated. I still had over half a bottle that Mum gave me, so I huffed and puffed about it a bit. But we got to the gate in plenty of time. 10 minutes after we were due to start boarding, a voice came over the PA system to inform us that the aircraft had a fault, so we were changing over, which meant a gate change. We eventually got into the new gate, going through security again, and sat waiting for news. A. realised that we were sitting within earshot of a band called New Found Glory, which didn’t really mean anything to me, but still seemed like an interesting thing to happen. I was glad to have someone to point out the significance of the loud, tattooed group sitting on the floor near us.

So there was a delay of about 45mins, but we shouldn’t have any problems with our connection at Brisbane. We’re sitting in the middle block, with A. on the aisle, which is a position I have not experienced before. I just finished watching Due Date, a funny yet compelling film about the odd couple/two and a half men tip-o’-the-hat with Robert Downey Jr (drool) and That-Guy-From-The-Hangover, the name to which I believe he is most often being referred. A. is currently watching Glee. He has already got most of the songs stuck in my head from playing them in the hostel! Tee hee.

Cairns hostel, 25^th, 4pm. At the moment I am a bit down. But I’ll get to why later. After Due Date, I tried to get some rest, and I think I might have slept a little too, which was good, and I was awake in time for breakfast. We got into Brisbane late, but as I suspected, we still had plenty of time for our connecting flight. We went through the rigorous Australian customs etc, got our bags, then checked them in again, and took the bus to the domestic terminal; got on a smaller plane, much more like what I’m used to when going to Europe, and read for two hours. We got given tea and a snack – A. had the chocolate cookie, I had the orange muffin.

At Cairns airport, we glided through to the bag carousel, and a string of good fortune came to an end because we waited a lot longer for our bags then we had previously. A lovely information guy came over and gave us some advice and maps, and we rang our hostel, which sent a taxi to bring us here. We checked in, and were given a token for a free dinner at the bar tonight, which opens in an hour. Our room is lot less nice than the Singapore one. Because air conditioning is not as utterly necessary here than in Singapore, it is only on at night; we have a cell with bunk beds, a small cupboard, a mirror and a window; and we’re sharing a bathroom with everyone on our floor. But this is proper gapper living now.

It’s raining, which is a shame. I hope it doesn’t have such a dampening effect on A. as it did the other day, because we can’t just bum around for weeks on end. At least I’ve been able to buy more sun cream. And now I come back to feeling down. First, we haven’t got free wireless internet here like we did before – we would have to buy it, and only get it in the communal area downstairs. So instead we’ve bought a small amount of credit for the computers downstairs. But I still should be able to Skype.

Further to that, we went to the tour desk next to reception and spoke to a nice guy called Chris for a good long while. We wanted to work out some things to do while we’re here until Tuesday morning, and as the conversation progressed, Chris advised more and more on our general trip as well as the specifics of activities in Cairns. He obviously picked up that we are new to all this, like letting us know that most activities in this part of the world will have a levy that you pay on the day.

And our situation was complicated by the fact that we haven’t put more than £100 on our shared cash card, which I am going to poke A. to increase tomorrow (as I can’t do it until I have access to my account), but that won’t come into effect for 3-4 days. So we have worked out a schedule for Cairns; tomorrow we will go out with Chris on the trip he organises each Saturday to the botanical gardens, which is free. Then we booked a day trip to Cape Tribulation, which is a relaxed experience of the rainforest, for Sunday, and we of course had to pay cash. This means I have enough left for lunch tomorrow but after that I will have to borrow some off A.

This is why I feel down. This conversation with Chris has showed me just how unprepared we are. Now I’m only going from what I’ve heard and observed, but A. seems to think we’re going to spend a lot of time just bumming around. I am worried that we have opposing attitudes, because I want to spend the majority of my three months out here actually doing things. I would have been more prepared and organised with more of a game plan, but in the planning stages in England, A. stipulated that he wanted to be carefree and take stuff as it came. Hopefully our experience today will mean he will help me now get a rough timetable for when we take the Greyhound, and the key things to get down at each of the 23 stops.

He’s currently asleep on the bunk above me.

Hostel, 25^th, 5.30pm. Well, I feel a little better after the last hour. Because I don’t have a piano nearby (my usual therapy) I did the next best thing and wrote lists and organised. I looked at our Base Jumping Pass more carefully – this is 10 prepaid nights at Base hostels, open dated – and I now understand the exact procedure; that there are only 5 (possibly 6) of the Base hostels that are on our route to use – Magnetic Island, 1770 (yes, that’s a town name), Rainbow Beach, Sydney and Melbourne (the possible sixth is Brisbane, but I’m hoping to visit Cousin Bill) - we have to book three days beforehand, and we must pay separately for 4^th nights or more. Obviously we’ll probably use 6 nights for Sydney and Melbourne, and the 4 others for the 3 (or 4) others. I’ve even traced the diagram of the Greyhound bus route onto a piece of paper, so I have a hard copy, though it may be in pencil.

Now I’m just waiting to see how hungry I get. It’s only ten to six, so not close to my dinner time, but I may just get bored, and wake A. up to go to dinner early. I seem to be making a lot of decisions – A. was say it’s because I’m uptight, but really it’s because his tribe is Camp Idontmind.

Hostel, 25hth. 7.30pm We've eaten, and I'm going to bed. Looking forward to seeing Oz in the morning!

G: Singapore

Hostel, 23rd, 12.30pm. A morning spent out in Singapore, and all its hot humid or air conditioned glory. We woke up at 8am (well, A. woke at 6.30 because he gave into his tiredness and went to sleep mid-afternoon) and went down to breakfast in the hostel's eating area. The selection was corn flakes, coco-curls, quiche, frankfurters, noodles, toast, tea, coffee and juice (some odd choices in there, I know). The coffee was vile, the cornflakes slightly out of date, the toaster pretty useless, and the frankfurters looked like...well, anyway, it was fine really, decent enough to get us through the morning, and a nice dining area. I noticed that the clear-up cart had 'Cutleries' on it - something for the English Language student that is dormant in me.

I picked up a good leaflet-map, and we set out for Orchard Road, the main shopping district. It is vaguely like Fifth Avenue, but in most ways it's not. It's essential a really long road of shopping centres. The Grand Arcade has nothing on any of them, even the smaller ones. There's not a single separate shop, just centre after centre.

Hostel, 23rd, 4.30pm. It's raining, and stormy, 14secs between lighting and thunder (A. is really bored and his tooth hurts). So to continue. We walked along the street, commenting on how large the shops were, and quickly realised that nothing opened until 10.30am. So we kept walking, then turned around and walked back on the other side of the street. We went in a centre at 10.30 and went around 5 of the 7 floors. We stopped for a drink, and A. had a banana crepe. We left, and made our way back. I'm starting to recognise the streets near our hostel that lead to the main city, though the map is really helpful. I failed in my mission to buy a scrapbook, but I will continue looking!

On the river

We stayed in the hostel room for about an hour. I cooled down with a rinse, to get rid of the accumulated sweat. We relaxed and recovered, then set out for lunch. We took the subway to the river; it is a modern phenomenon that an experience the underground train is a key activity when a tourist in a city. It is clean and modern, like most of the city that we have experienced, with solid cards rather than paper tickets. 4 minutes later we arrived at Clarke Quay station, and we made our way to Boat Quay.

Like most touristy waterfronts, there was a row of restaurants and cafes, and we selected one on the basis that A. does not like Asian food, so we had to find a Westernised menu. I must say, it was the worst pizza I have ever had. The base was like a large biscuit, and the cheese was orange and cheap. A. seemed quite satisfied. As we left the restaurant, having decided to go down the river and see the Esplanade, and possibly go on a river cruise, the big, black cloud above us let rip. Proper tropical rain, that we stomped through for all of 5 minutes before we were both suffering - A. from the rain, and me from A's moaning about the rain! Of course, once we stepped out of the subway at the other end, it was dry, but all too soon, back in the room, it started again. It didn't come as a total surprise, as that was the forecast, but it did put a little downer on the day.

One of the most prominent things I have noticed about this city is a near constant smell of something rather horrible, and I have come to learn that this is a disinfectant. It is everywhere; coming out of cafes, stinking out the bathrooms, and it really sticks in the nose.

Hostel, 24th, 9.45am. Got back late last night so couldn't be bothered to write before I went to sleep. I'm currently in the room while A. has gone to buy postcards. Yesterday, after relaxing out the rain, I went downstairs to wait for the lift to the Night Safari. A. had to go back to the room to get something, so when the guy arrived and asked for Thompson at reception, the receptionist called over to me "Excuse me, are you Mrs Thompson?". After a moment getting over the shock, I replied "No, but he'll be right down," and I think she got the message. A. came down and we hopped on the mini bus into the dusk of Singapore.

We picked up two other couples and then were herded off and given stickers. Then someone came and looked at our stickers and pointed us at a rep who then pointed us onto another bus. This filled up with 24 of us, and a guide called Albert in a pink shirt. He introduced himself as we set off, and took the opportunity of the half hour drive to tell us the schedule, and a short history of Singapore. A. had to stop himself correcting the man on his economics terms! We arrived early at the safari, so our little duo visited the Ben and Jerry's shop for an ice cream.

Albert then gave us all tickets and we queued for the tram ride. Two couples, A. and I got on the first tram but we were the last to fit, so we left the rest of the group behind as we set off on the road through the forest. I kept forgetting to turn my flash off when I changed features of my camera, but apart from that it was a smooth ride. I man with a very smooth voice talked us through the animals we saw, right up close to the tram, including lions, a tiger, hippos, buffalo, rhinos, lots of different deer and goats, large birds, tapirs, hyenas, zebras, and elephants. The pictures came out almost completely black, because the only light were floodlights mimicking the moon.

It was really fun, both seeing the animals and hearing about them from the guide. I kind of wish they had simply put a ban on photos all together, because it felt like I was only ever trying to get a good picture, rather than enjoying seeing the animals up close, and it wasn't even worth it. But I did put down my camera occasionally (A. simply gave up after about five enclosures).

We got off the tram where we had got on it, and Albert advised us to go to the 8pm fire show, rather than the 9pm scheduled, because there was a small crowd. This show was the best bit for me. I got a few videos, that I should upload soon. These half naked men in traditional dress performed fire tricks and dances to tribal music, with a bit of comedy in there, and some audience participation. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

However, it finished at 8.25 (5mins late) and we hurried over the entrance for the animal show in the amphitheatre at 8.30. The entrance had a big sign across it saying "This performance is now full." We stopped, and found Albert coming up behind us, shouting at us for being late. He tried to wrangle the staff to let us in late, but they wouldn't allow it. It was really disappointing, because we had until 9.40 at the safari, but the next show was at 9.30. The plan had been to go for a walk between the tram and the 8.30, then go the 9pm, but of course it was Albert (who I started calling Angry Albert at this point) who told us to go to the 8pm. He shouted that he had said we couldn't stay for the whole show, but he had not. After a minute or so of bitter disappointment, we shook it off, telling ourselves there were plenty of animal shows in the world. We really enjoyed our trek through the enclosures not on the tram tour, and it took us 50mins to do all 4 walks. I did hurry along rather fast, now in a state of worry about being late at all now, but seeing the animals on foot was good. We got on the coach at 9.45 and were back in the hostel at 10.30.

The safari was definitely the highlight of the day, and we were worn out. A. had to go to the 24hr bakery for food to take his meds, and then I went to bed. He stayed up and watched the newest episode of Glee.

In conclusion: In Singapore it can rain quite heavily, but it's public transport is good, and the night safari was a fun new experience.

This morning we got up at 8am again, got breakfast, then I washed my hair. We're now all packed up, A. is writing out postcards, and we will be getting a taxi at 6pm to the airport to fly to Australia!

G: The first day!

21st Feb, woke up 5am. Blogs written offline throughout the day.

On the plane, 21st, 9.45pm Singapore time (1.45pm body clock). First blog of the trip! A mixture of being tired and overexcited reminds me of my childhood, though we sit in our comfy Qantas seats, which is new experience.

The airport was fine as airports go. Getting up at 5am was not fun, but as often happens when going away, adrenaline got me through the morning. Said goodbye to Mum, and set off to Heathrow with Dad. Aiden brought a whole contingent – his mum, younger sisters, and big sister Michael. I remarked that it was surprise he didn’t bring Jazz (the dog). We found each other, checked our bags, then sat down for breakfast. Dad left soon after, which made me tear up a bit. Before going through security, more tears were shed saying goodbye, and I made lots of promises to look after Aiden, which I will keep. Mark you, he probably won’t make it that easy!

Waited at the gate, then boarded. We have individual screens with a very large range of entertainment (incl. audiobooks, oddly), and we got complimentary head phones, blankets and pillows. There’s also a lot of space – the seat ‘ceiling’ is high enough to stand under, and I could poke my head through the gap at the window (it being me in the window seat, Aiden on my left next to me). We saw from the gate how big the plane is – it has an upstairs for pity’s sake.

So far I have had the fortune to watch the third episode of ‘Sherlock’. I forget now why I missed it on its original airdate, but suffice it to say, I was annoyed, seeing that I had enjoyed the first two immensely (as I have the third). Aiden is still watching the end of ‘R.E’D’. There’s not much else in the films and TV shows I fancy, though the flight may prove onerous enough for something to seem more attractive later on. Aiden was very excited by the system. The screens are touch screens, with music and radio, and a live feed from a camera attached to the tail!

Having finished listening to the entertainment, I have realised one of the babies is crying. Yes, one of. I saw at least two babies at the gate, there may be more that I’m not aware of. We’ve eaten our first meal – the rice salad common to plane food, with the also common bread roll and butter, and beef and Guinness pie, and of course tea after. Not bad. The Mars ice cream bar was good.

At the hostel, 22nd, 1.30pm Singapore time (5.30am body clock). We have been up over 24hrs now! I was able to get some rest on the plane (though not true sleep). However, Aiden is suffering a lot more because he wasn’t able to get any rest. The only thing on his mind since we got out of the taxi at the hostel has been to get to sleep.

The rest of the flight wasn’t anything special. We played battleships at one point, watched TV shows, and I read, as well as trying innumerable positions with both provided pillow, and my own neck pillow, plus the blanket, and occasionally Aiden as extra support – with his consent I hasten to add! We got breakfast (A. had muesli, I had hot), and we landed at 8.09am local time. We wrote out forms for border control (or whatever it was for), and got our bags on our immediate arrival at the carousel (get in). We had hoped to be met by our taxi driver, but we had to give them a call and found out they were at the wrong gate.

We left our bags at the hostel, and took a short stroll round the nearby area. Well, Singapore, what can I say? HUMIDITY is the overriding feature, as we were warned. Our jeans are soaked with sweat, and A. already looks a little pink. I was horrified to find that an arm my new sunglasses had fallen off, so I spent the first few hours squinting. However, once we had got hold of a map and chosen a direction, we ended up in several shopping malls, and I got my glasses fixed for free! Lovely man.

So it has been about 25 degrees Celsius I think. There are a lot of trees, especially on the outcrop with the airport; we drove for about 20mins through very green roadsides. The main city area we’ve looked at (a rather small portion, especially considering the size of the Republic itself) has been lots of Asian architecture high risers. I think the oddest thing to get used to is the fact that the main language spoken here is English. It all feels so foreign, and Asian, and then all the signs are English, and anyone you speak to fully understands.

Another thing about Singapore is our relationship with it. We’re really only here for a pit-stop; the three days we’ll eventually be here don’t feel like ‘real’ days of the trip. Of course, we will be making the most of it – seeing the main sites of the quays on the river hopefully, and the wonderful night safari planned for tomorrow.

In conclusion: 13 hours on a plane is fricking hard to cope with, and so is high humidity. But we’re really on our way now, and with Aiden feeling better after a shower, this is a good day to start our big, scary, wonderful adventure.