And then there was one

Only one more week of work and we will be in Darwin. The term is slipping away very quickly and all the talk around the staff rooms seems to be about different holiday locations. We had an end of term social dinner at Holland Village on Sunday night and it was lovely to catch up with a few we haven't seen since the beginning of the year or the Bintan weekend. 

It is so dry here! Hard to believe we are in the tropical zone. We've not really had a significant fall of rain since the start of the new year so many of the new recruits don't know what they are in for, when it does eventually come. I played tennis with some friends last Friday morning (singles would you believe) and it was so hot on the rooftop courts. The sun was blazing fiercely even at 9am. Kathy, from Kovan Branch, has her daughter visiting next week while we are away. They are going to Penang for a few days and then will stay at our place as Kathy rents a room in a house with a local family and it will not be very comfortable for them both to share. Suits all of us.

On Monday we did the Southern Ridges Walk, one of our favourites which begins in Kent Ridge Park and continues on through to Hort Park and Mt Faber. Once again we were struck by the dryness of all the vegetation but it didn't seem to worry the wildlife. We saw plenty of birds, lizards and squirrels though nothing particularly interesting. Probably the most intriguing site was this fellow below.  Yes, it's the Google camera, soon our Singapore maps will have the walking trails overlay. Fantastic!

 The nest of a sunbird in Hort Park Gardens

 Canopy walk

 Henderson Waves

 Happy because it's all downhill to lunch from this spot. 

And then on the way home it became obvious that we had overdone it when these three willingly did this on the train.

After lunch Helen brought around her new laptop and I helped her navigate around Windows 8 and installed a few programs for her. Then we were able to catch Sandy on Skype so that helped to arrange the timetable for next week in Darwin. A week in Darwin has to include sunset drinks mid-week on the cliffs and a return to the ski club over the weekend. 

We met up with Peter for dinner at our Hawker Stalls across the road and then had a drink at Angie's Wine Bar, but I don't think I can call it that anymore since we haven't seen her there for a long time. Its real name is Nectars and Vine. I just checked it out on Google images and you'll never guess.....no, I'm not going to tell you, search for yourselves. Yve, you will be as surprised as I was. Eric wore his favouite new t-shirt.

On Tuesday we revisited one of the trails we had set for the Great Race and reversed it, then set a second one. I think we have found a suitable venue for our trophy presentations thanks to a random email from Anne in Aukland. there are such contrasts to be found when you wander around and look for them.

Heather and Michael joined us there to check it out and then we had dinner at Sque Bar at Dhoby Ghaut.