Settling In and Finding Gin

It has been a week of exploring and finding new places. We had 3 nights in an apartment before moving on to a lovely warehouse style Air BnB in the CBD. It has been the perfect place to help us get to know the city.

We have done loads of walking this week and exploring neighbourhoods. It has been really warm with temperatures in the mid 30’s. On the day when we were doing flat viewings, the temperature reached 36′ and I think it’s the hottest I’ve ever been! Slurpees and iced coffee were our saviours.

After much exploring and many coffees we have found a flat in South Yarra and move in on the 4th of January. It’s perfect because it is full furnished and includes everything that we need for our time in Melbourne. South Yarra is only two stops from the main station or a nice half an hour walk along the river into the city.

With Martin having time off before starting work in January we have been trying to explore as much as possible to see as much of the city as we can. One of our favourite places so far has been the botanical gardens. It was really nice to take a quiet walk and a picnic into this luscious retreat. Before we left the UK, we booked a rooftop cinema experience. Martin assured me that it would be a christmas film and apparently Die Hard is the best christmas film of all! Great fun though and cool to be sitting on a roof, outside, watching a film.

We have also made sure to check out a few of the happy hours and where to get the best drinks. We have drunk plenty of gin (finding a new found love for raspberry tonic!) and also some cold beers to help cool down in the Melbourne heat. One evening we took a nice walk down to St Kilda beach and just watched the world going by with a few tinnies 🙂

Thinking about all of friends and family celebrating the festivities in the UK. Will update soon about our Ozzie Christmas.

❤️ M&S

Can’t Wait To See More Of Singapore

After leaving the UK’s freezing temperatures on Monday morning is was lovely to arrive to 26′ and high humidity in Singapore.

We touched down at 7:30am and were at our hotel by 8:30 – amazing!

As a little treat we had booked into the Marina Bay Sands. The customer service was absolutely amazing. Prior to arriving we had made a note on our booking to say that were on our honeymoon and/or they could see that we looked absolutely wrecked from our 13 hour flight! The kind man allowed us to check in early (rather than waiting until 3pm when we would have probably been asleep in a cafe somewhere!) and have a late check out (1pm). Within about 10 minute of us arriving in our room, we were asleep and a quick 1 hour nap turned into a 4 hour one..oops.

With our room, we were allowed to enter the Club 55 lounge at 2pm for afternoon tea and again at 6pm for snacks and canapés. It was a real treat to be looked after and have some delicious food before we headed out. Although we were pretty soggy when we went for snacks and drinks but the free beer and champagne soon cheered us up.

That evening we headed out for a little walk around the bay and went along the river to Clarke Key. It was so lovely to be nice and warm and a little sweaty. Then the daily rain came and our little primark umbrella came in handy – next time we will make sure that we have an umbrella each and one that is slightly more with sturdy than our Primark one!

The best thing about our hotel was the pool on the 57th floor. The views were amazing and it was the perfect place to cool off after a walk in the city. We visited a few times and enjoyed a little lie in the sunshine. We also had our breakfast poolside and enjoyed the views whilst fuelling up for the day.

After breakfast we went to Little India and looked at some of the brightly coloured buildings. Before heading, back we enjoyed some Kopi (cold brew coffee) and Iced Tea from one of the Hawker Centres.

One of our favourite places was Gardens By The Bay. We visited both at night and in the day. The park was beautiful and a really relaxing place. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get access to the tree tops due to winter wonderland (there was even an ice skating rink in the 30′ heat!) A bit of a strange feeling with christmas music blasting down and being incredibly warm. There was a light show along to music which was just lovely. Before our flight to Melbourne, we took some shelter at the food court here during an afternoon storm and watched the rain fall whilst eating some food (along with 20 little birdies!)

We really enjoyed our 36 hours in Singapore and it was a great buffer to aid the jet lag over to Oz. With return flights already booked and another stop in Singapore planned – we are excited to see more and next time with some friendly faces!

❤️ M&S x