• Lara Knight
  • Ian Knight
  • Lara Knight
  • Ian Knight

Singapore New Zealand Fiji

Et 30-dagers eventyr av Lara & Ian Les mer
  • Reisens start
    8. mars 2025

    Singapore - Arrival day!

    9. mars 2025, Singapore ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    We made it to Singapore! Pretty good 13 hour flight, lucky enough to have 3 seats to ourselves so managed 5 hours sleep🙌
    After dropping our luggage we walked to the famous Raffles Hotel for a Singapore Sling, hot and humid here 28 degrees at 8.30pm! Lovely hotel and the drink was good too - although Ian wasn’t so impressed at the price £57 for 2 Singapore Slings!! 😆
    Ian wasn’t impressed with some of the crisps on offer in one of the local shops either 😆😆
    First impressions of Singapore pretty good 😊
    Les mer

  • Singapore Day 1 - Coach Tour

    10. mars 2025, Singapore ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Very busy first day, we went to the National Orchid Garden, Little India, the Sky Park level 56 of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel - incredible views, including Ian’s favourite the F1 circuit 😆 We then headed to China Town saw the Buddhist temple & then went for some lunch, went to our first Hawker Centre which is where many locals eat - Ian was not impressed by the choices - see photos 😆😆 they even had duck head including neck 🤢so we found a small restaurant instead, I had a lovely mint lemonade even though it looked a bit suspect when it arrived!!!Les mer

  • Singapore Day 1 -Gardens by the Bay

    10. mars 2025, Singapore ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    After a rest at the hotel we ventured on the public bus to Marina Bay to go to the flower dome & cloud forest, Ian was happy because a Canadian man on the bus noticed his Forest T-shirt & got talking with him about how good they are doing this year 😆😆
    The cloud forest was incredible 😮 a spectacular huge indoor waterfall against a wall of greenery and different flowers, stunning.
    We also went to see the Super Trees light show, then into the laser & fountain show by the water both brilliant.
    It is very hot & humid here, we have walked some 18500 steps today, but it has been brilliant!
    Les mer

  • Singapore Day 2 - Sentosa Island

    11. mars 2025, Singapore ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Amazing day at Sentosa, we braved the MRT underground train - very easy, then took the monorail across to Sentosa. We went on a 2 hour bus tour of the island, then stopped a while at Siloso Beach area, before going on the cable cars across the island and back to the mainland, crazy hot and humid today! Great placeLes mer

  • Singapore Day 2 - Sentosa Cable car ride

    11. mars 2025, Singapore ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Fantastic cable car systems, we took one circular cable car which went across the beaches at Sentosa, then another which went across to Singapore harbour front then onto Mount Fabor, brilliant way to get around, just stay on & take in the views. We saw zip wire riders, a bungee jumping place, the sky walk we had completed earlier in the day and much more.
    Best view from the loos hand washing station though!!!
    We ended up in a ‘misting area’ to cool
    off as there is no air conditioning on the cable cars 🥵
    Plan for the day executed 🙌 Rested this evening to recover! We fly tomorrow to Christchurch New Zealand - looking forward to some cooler weather 😆😆
    Les mer

  • Singapore Day 3 Fort Cannings Park

    12. mars 2025, Singapore ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    We had a few hours to kill before our flight to Christchurch New Zealand, so decided to visit a beautiful park near to our hotel, Fort Cannings, Singapore’s 1st botanical garden, very hot and humid, a short sharp shower cooled things down for a few seconds!!! 😆
    We did as the locals do & had a go on one of the swinging seats, we walked through the spice garden, the scents were amazing, heightened by the rainfall, then we went to the tree tunnel to get the shot from the tunnel up to the trees. A good way to end to a fab few days in Singapore. Next stop New Zealand 🇳🇿
    Les mer

  • New Zealand - Christchurch - Day 4

    13. mars 2025, New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Arrived in this beautiful place after a 10 hour restless flight! Went for a bus tour around Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island with a 400k population.
    Most of the central city is newly built as 90% was destroyed by the 7.1 scale earthquake in 2011 & it took 8-9 years for infrastructure to recover or be replaced. This is a very nice place, we met a couple from our trip & embarked on the city’s tram 50 minute tram ride, together. The red tram turned 100 yrs old last month ! Hotel really nice. Early start tomorrow (get up at 6.30am for a 8:30am leave to Dunedin) so we’re just off to bed now as both bloody knackered, not much sleep on plane last night.Les mer

  • New Zealand Day 5 - Christchurch to Dune

    14. mars 2025, New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Coach day today, fabulous weather & views as we followed the coastal roads & railway line to Dunedin. We stopped at Geraldine mid morning for a coffee break, a small town en route to Oamaru for lunch, a beautiful place with a white limestone quarry, which lots of the buildings were made from.
    We then stopped at Koekohe beach with the Moeraki boulders, gorgeous place before continuing the scenic drive to Dunedin, which has a very strong Scottish heritage & we are having a Scottish meal with a Scottish ceremony tonight 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🥃
    What a beautiful 1st full day, it reminds us very much of England, just more striking colours!
    Les mer

  • New Zealand Day 5 & 6 Dunedin

    15. mars 2025, New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Burns Scottish night last night, great fun and we both tried haggis for the first time, which was surprisingly tasty!
    Today we went to the Farmer’s market which was interesting, Dunedin train station which is a beautiful building, unfortunately no trains today…
    We went to Baldwin Street this afternoon to the worlds steepest street, Lara had been struggling a bit & as hills are difficult normally for her, we cheated & took a taxi there & up the street, but walked down and then just over 3 miles back to our hotel 😉 Beautiful gardens in the way, Ian was happy as we found some mint Tim Tams this morning & then had 2 huge ice creams this afternoon for £2.70 😆😆
    Ian’s also chuffed as we have booked tickets to watch the World Cup qualifier at the Sky Stadium in Wellington for the New Zealand vs Fiji semi final match, where Forest’s Chris Wood will hopefully be playing - only £11 a ticket too! 🙄🙃
    Quiet evening tonight recovering, before moving on to Te Anau tomorrow.
    Les mer

  • Te Anau

    16. mars 2025, New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Travelled to Te Anau today, a lovely coach ride through misty mountains, fog & sunshine. We had a coffee stop at Gore ( pronounced Gorrrrre!) en route.
    Te Anau is a stunning lake location on the way to Milford Sound, the lake is 65 km long, 202m above sea level, however the deepest part of the lake is a whopping 226m below sea level due to glacial action. It really has been a stunning journey. We then visited the bird sanctuary to see the local Takahe bird, before going for a walk along the lake.
    I have never seen such a beautiful blue sky, it really is stunning 😍
    Les mer

  • Milford Sound

    17. mars 2025, New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    The 8th wonder of the world! We were pretty worried about today, the weather forecast was awful, 20cm of rain forecast for Milford Sound, the driver said not to worry as some of the best waterfalls appear with heavy rain, the trip did not disappoint! We got completely soaked & blown around, but it was an incredibly magical and awe inspiring few hours. We stopped en route in a spot where because of the weather we were surrounded 360 degrees by waterfalls, my footage does not do it justice as the lens got so wet!!!
    It may not have been the weather we would have wanted, but we honoured mum’s request that we did this trip, I thought of her often during the morning and a fantastic, unforgettable memory has been made ❤️ 😍
    We then made our way to Queenstown
    Les mer

  • Queenstown

    17. mars 2025, New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    We took the gondola ride in Queenstown up to to the restaurant at the top for a wonderful meal with a view across Lake Wakatipu 🥰 A perfect ending to today, even topped off with rain for the 20 minute walk back to the hotel!!Les mer

  • Queenstown Skippers Canyon 4x4 safari

    18. mars 2025, New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 6 °C

    4 hour 4x4 experience today, what an adventure! We went deep into Skippers canyon, steep drops by the roadside, windy roads, bumpy roads, hairpin bends, amazing views. The pine trees have been taking over the native plants and trees, so a programme to destroy large parts of them is in place, so quite a few black burnt out trees on the journey. We stopped at Skippers town where the gold miners settled in the late 1800’s, crossed a bridge which opened in 1901 - an amazing accomplishment, panned for gold in the Shotover river & had a brilliant experience, thanks to Dan our English driver from Essex 😮😆Les mer

  • TSS Earnslaw Wakatipu Lake

    18. mars 2025, New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

    Brilliant evening, we took the TSS Earnslaw boat across Wakatipu lake to Walter’s Peak farm. TSS Earnslaw was built in 1912, it is the only coal fired steam ship in operation in the southern hemisphere, Fascinating to watch the men shovel the coal and keep the engine running whilst motoring across Lake Wakatipu. Our destination was Walter’s Peak Farm for a meal and sheep dog demonstration, it was a delicious buffet meal of local foods, lots of laughs and good company from our fellow travellers. Great watching the sheep dog Mist rounding up the sheep before heading back across the lake on the TSS Earnslaw again.Les mer

  • Queenstown to Mount Cook part 1

    19. mars 2025, New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C

    Today has been a dream of a day! The weather perfect, the scenery breathtaking, beyond our wildest dreams!!
    We left Queenstown, stopped for coffee at Arrowtown, then on to the Kinross winery for 10.30am wine tasting!!! 😮😆 Lunch stop at Cromwell….Les mer

  • Queenstown to Mount Cook Part 2

    19. mars 2025, New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    I felt particularly emotional on this leg of the journey, scenery has never moved me so much as Lake Pukaki and on to Mount Cook. The colours were stunningly beautiful, the scenes took my breath away and moved me to tears, nature at its absolute best. The view from our room is beyond expectation, looking forward to some stargazing tonight!Les mer

  • Mount Cook evening

    19. mars 2025, New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    Lovely view from the lift and the restaurant tonight! The bus driver said that if we were very lucky we would see Mount Cook glow pink at sunset for a couple of minutes, apparently very few visitors are lucky enough to see it & wow we did! Lovely meal followed by a bit of star gazing from outside the hotel & our balcony, fabulous end to a perfect day! 🙌🙏🏻Les mer

  • Mount Cook back to Christchurch

    20. mars 2025, New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Long day across the scenic route back to Christchurch today. The weather clouded over as we travelled back past Lake Pukaki, how different it looked from yesterday, we realised just how lucky we had been. We stopped at Lake Tepako, with the Church of the Good Shepherd built in 1935 to commemorate the early settlers & the Sheep Dog statue, a tribute to all working dogs. The sun shone & it was another beautiful spot to visit 🥰🥰
    We then stopped in Geraldine for lunch, with another couple of breaks before arriving back in Christchurch at 4.30pm. Quiet evening this evening as we head out at 6.45am tomorrow for our ferry across to the North Island and Wellington.
    Les mer

  • Christchurch to Wellington -North Island

    21. mars 2025, New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Today we left Christchurch in the South Island, an early start, we left at 6.45am for the long coach journey (with stops) to Picton to catch the 2.15pm ferry across to Wellington in the North Island.
    First rookie error of the holiday, I forgot to check we had travel sickness tablets in our hand luggage and realised just as we got on the coach that they were packed on our suitcases that were already on the coach 🤦🏻‍♀️
    Ian started feeling travel sick on the last leg of the journey, fortunately I managed to buy some travel sickness tablets en route and by the time the boat left he was much better! The boat across was calm, beautiful scenery, a few jelly fish but thankfully uneventful! We arrived just in time to make it to the Sky Stadium, a 10 minute walk from our hotel in Wellington, to watch New Zealand play Fiji in their World Cup qualifier game, New Zealand won 7-0, Ian was happy as the captain Chris Wood, who also plays for Forest, scored a hat trick 🙌
    A good start to our North Island adventure!
    Les mer

  • Windy Wellington!

    22. mars 2025, New Zealand ⋅ 🌬 15 °C

    The southern most capital city in the world, named after the Duke of Wellington, known as windy Wellington, it certainly lived up to its name today!!
    We had a bus tour around the city, including the old parliament building which is apparently the 2nd largest wooden structure in the world. Lots of great looking buildings, a busy port & harbour, we were taken to the top of the Wellington Cable car ride, then to Mount Victoria for great views across the city.
    Bit cloudier & very windy today, ended the day with 14oz steak & a free bottle of wine!! 🙌😉
    Les mer

  • Wellington to Rotorua

    23. mars 2025, New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Long coach day to Rotorua, we stopped at Bulls for coffee, then on to the volcanic part of the North Island with stops at Lake Taupo - host to New Zealand’s Ironman & Huka Falls, both beautiful areas with a temperature of 23 degrees - very nice! Rotorua has a slight whiff of rotten eggs from the sulphur in the active volcano, which last erupted in 2015.
    We then went to a Māori evening which was brilliant fun, learning a few Māori traditions including the haka, traditional singing & dancing performance, followed by a traditional meal with duck, lamb & beef in the menu.
    Les mer

  • Rotorua

    24. mars 2025, New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    A jam packed day! This morning we went to the Agrodome for a farm show, involving 19 different breeds of sheep, 3 dogs, 3 ducks & a cow!!! Fantastic show, we thoroughly enjoyed it, the finale is in the videos, pretty brilliant!!
    Then we went to a kiwi hatchery, kiwi is the national bird of New Zealand which was close to extinction before the hatchery schemes were developed. Kiwis are nocturnal birds so very difficult to see in the wild, so great to get the opportunity to see them, although we couldn’t take photos. This afternoon we went to the local Māori village to see the geothermal springs and geysers, we were given a tour by one of the Māori villagers, it was stinky 😷 but fascinating!
    Then we went on a duck boat tour of Rotorua, including cruising around a couple of lakes, the duck boat was built in 1942 & used in WW2, not particularly comfortable but still reliable after all these years! Another great day had.
    Off to Auckland tomorrow.
    Les mer

  • Rotorua to Auckland

    25. mars 2025, New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Coach day today, we went to the Waitomo limestone caves to see the glow worms glow, it was brilliant 🤩 A couple of stops en route then we arrived at Auckland, to sunshine at 26 degrees, perfect weather! We took a trip up the Sky Tower to watch the sunset and have a drink, perfect end to the day!!Les mer

  • Auckland

    26. mars 2025, New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    We did a bus tour round Auckland this morning, then stopped for lunch before going on a 4.5 hour whale and dolphin watching tour. Unfortunately no whales today, but we did see some blue penguins which i couldn’t capture on camera & we got to spend about half an hour with a pod of common dolphins, Ian lost count after counting 40 of them, they also had some baby dolphins with them, absolutely magical! Unfortunately the video with the baby dolphins is too long for the videos allowed on this app 🙄Les mer

  • Auckland to Paihia Bay of Islands

    27. mars 2025, New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Another coach day today to our furthest north destination Paihia. En route we stopped at Parry Kauri Park to look at the many different trees and some interesting artefacts, then we went to the Kauri tree museum. The Kauri tree has declined massively in the last 150 years here and the museum was set up to honour the industry it created as well as help to recover the numbers of trees. Heavily used in the 1900’s for housing, furniture and many other uses, the museum holds a huge piece of a tree which was truck by lightning, fascinating place.
    We then continued to Paihia in the bay of islands, a beautiful beach resort, the sun shone it was a balmy 26 degrees and we took a stroll before joining our fellow travellers for dinner.
    Les mer