Friends

This is Celia's friend Chantal. Chantal comes over after school quite regularly. The girls play games, draw, swim, and build things - like the space ship they are in for this photo!

Street cleaning

These are how the streets are kept tidy - by cleaners working away methodically with a good old-fashioned broom for the leaves.

I'm still surprised at how much litter there is at times - guess you would need an awful lot of these cleaners to keep up with 4 million people!

Underwater photos

Not bad for a disposable Kodak underwater camera!

In the 'all-blue' photo you can see the shark well down below... it is actually about 6 feet long.

Malaysia

Photos en route to Mersing, Malaysia

Tioman Island, Malaysia

After much anticipation, our 3-day holiday to Malaysia's Tioman Island finally arrived, and what an amazing experience it has been. We left Singapore by bus at 6.30 am on Wednesday 18th March for a 3-hour trip to Mersing. After a hot and chaotic wait at the wharf, we boarded the ferry to Tioman Island for a 2-hour boat ride. My fears of seasickness were unfounded as the ocean (South China Sea) was very very still - nothing like the Foveaux Strait trip to Stewart Island! 

Tioman Island was great - good accommodation, meals all included (no cooking yay!), and awesome beaches. It is a popular holiday destination for local people, so it was refreshing that it wasn't at all touristy - as the photos show, this was the real thing!

Adam was amazing, sleeping his way through all the tough bits like winding roads, hot boat rides, etc... and no-one got mosquito bites (a miracle).

Steve's Birthday

Our only full day on the island was Thursday 19th March, conveniently coinciding with Steve's birthday. The event of the day was the snorkelling trip - something I have wanted to introduce the kids to for a long time. Steve enjoyed it a lot - especially when the guide took him and the older 3 kids about another 50 metres out to view some 5-6 foot long sharks which were a bit further down in the murky depths!

Otherwise it was mostly coral and fishes - but lots of them.

We had the best of weather during the 3 days - hot but not always too sunny, no rain and no storms (apart from some rain overnight at times). 

End of Term 1

Term 1 ends today (January 12th till March 13th) and the NJC team have one week's break. Steve has to work 2 of the days, so after that (on Wednesday) we are going into Malaysia for 2 nights, to Tioman Island. That coincides with Steve's birthday on Thursday 19th - so on that day we are hoping to be doing a snorkelling day trip which should be pretty cool. 

Rhian has homework up to his ears to also tackle during his week off - the science and maths really is tough, and all the assignments and tests pile up relentlessly. He is doing very well to stay so positive.

Jess is having some tough days, and missing you lot at home. 

Deanie and Celia are settling in to life at home-school, and of course Adam is happy anywhere so long as he is being fed and cuddled.

So here we are at the 3 month mark - into a routine and doing as well as can be expected  :)