Well, we've arrived safely and so far things have been pretty smooth. It's all very exciting.

The girls keep commenting on how green the plants and trees are. Some of them are very bright green and everywhere is lush. We arrived just before a big downpour which lasted about an hour.

The girls are sharing a double bed - last night they were so tired they went straight to sleep. I'm not confident that pattern will continue!

This morning we went for a swim in our massive pool and then headed off to open a local bank account. Being able to get paid is pretty important! Discovery of the day: Singapore has one thousand dollar bank notes...

Three Sleeps To Go

Well, our container ship left on Monday and we're off in three days time. It's very exciting and scary at the same time. The list of to-do's is a lot shorter, but there is still more to be done. And then we'll arrive and have to be getting a house setup from scratch - more lists!

All packed! Almost.

Been back home for a week now and have been busy finishing off the major job of packing. Items to the op-shop, items to the tip, items to storage (at Mum and Dad's - thanks), items for the shipping containers and finally items for our suitcase. Our house is empty - almost ready for our renters and we are finally ticking more things off our list than adding to it. Our Singapore plans have been finalised. We have signed the lease for Newton Gems and decided Avondale Grammar will be the girls' new school. I'm currently feeling the Melbourne cold as I stored most warm clothes or they are on a shipping container and I've been raiding Matt's suitcase for long-sleeved tops.

We are enjoying staying at Tamsin and Andrew's in the south wing of Batten Manor but are not looking forward to the good-bye process. I keep telling myself Singapore is only 6.5 hours away and as little as $450 return and there's always Skype. It's all good lah!

Around Asia in a day

We explored Chinatown and little India today. We found a great massage place that had a special 15 minute reflexology foot massage for $10. We endured it for others and can now highly recommend. Tea for 80c and lots of "authentic" Chinese and Indian ornaments and clothing that dropped in price as you walked away from the stand. It was fun and colourful. Certainly a good research day - we may even have had some fun on this very business-like trip of ours. About to go and sign a rental lease so lets hope it all goes well from here!

A gem of a place

Today we found a new home at a place called Newton Gems. We are negotiating so hopefully it will be a successful outcome. The photos above are of the apartments and complex. A big advantage of this place is it is so close to public transport and the girls will love the pool. Having spoken to other expats, I discovered it's not unusual to look at between 30 and 90 places before deciding. So having viewed 10 and already found somewhere suitable it's a bit of a relief. Tamsin and I and Maria went to the lively Clarke Quay for dinner to celebrate. We dined out at Coriander leaf which is a fusion of Asian and India with a hint of the Mediterranean. I'm not sure Gordon Ramsay would approve of the eclectic mix but the food was great.

Sore feet and shopping malls

It's very hard being in Singapore and not shopping. There are malls devoted to children and another devoted to sports but considering my baggage was already overweight on the way over I have had to avoid all eye contact with sales tables. So instead of shopping and relaxing on this trip, I've been walking distances from apartments to the MRT or bus routes. When the landlord says 3 minutes, the relocation agent tells me that means 5 minutes then add two kids to the equation it actually will mean 8 minutes.

Tamsin arrived at 9.30pm last night (12.30am Australia time) and was ready to flake out. Good news is she's going back first class and is allowed an extra 20kg of luggage...

The big house hunt

Started the day by visiting two local schools - one was something out of a 1950's movie where all the girls looked the same and dressed immaculately and walked in perfect lines. A stern-faced school teacher showed me around and I think would have caned me if I asked the wrong question. The other school was much more casual and so much more friendly. Some kids were slightly out of uniform, wearing different coloured socks. I never knew before that I would think that's a sign of a good school but I do now.

Then it was onto the mission of house-hunting. A company called Saville's were my hosts for the day and had set up all the inspection. Siew Hoong and Norris drove me around to the properties and gave me lunch. I was their first client who ever wanted to go to a hawker centre to eat - apparently that's not the typical expat wife thing to do.

So did I find what I was after in the house hunt? Well yes but it was spread across a number of apartments. The one with the awesome playground was too small. The one with all the great facilities and lots of space to run around was too far from transport. The huge one near the station was also near a construction site. I fell in love with a beautifully designed one near the station that had so much space everywhere else but the kids and guest rooms can only be described as pokey! In fact they were all great and I can't rule any of them out completely so today I'm going back to a few to walk the distance to the station. I keep switching my mind about which one is the most viable.

A Grande Day

I loved visiting Avondale Grammar. The class sizes are around 12 and their classrooms are so big. It only has 120 kids in the whole school. I didn't enrol Alice and Felicity just yet but it's looking more likely. They can have a trial day when they get here.

I ate lunch at a Hawker centre where I got roast duck and rice for $3 then went to a Starbucks for grande coffee and paid $6 which seemed like a grande rip-off to me.

I also chose our serviced apartment which will be our accommodation when we arrive. Harder decision than I thought it would be. Ended up going for the one with the huge pool and playground over the one with a free mineral spa. Realistically I thought the relaxing spa treatments wouldn't be that relaxing with Alice and Felicity next to me. I had a lovely dinner with Maria Phillips, a friend from Matt's Mercury days, at her apartment. They came to Singapore for a short while and have now been here eight years...

Green and Lush

Have just arrived in Singapore for a preview trip to research school and apartments. First impressions are that everything is so clean, green and luscious. They get a natural occurring phenomenon called rain and it does wonders for the plants. Today I look at Avondale Grammar and two serviced apartments to choose where we will spend our first month in Singapore. Lots of decisions to make...