Watch out world - we're coming back!

Friday 3rd October - We're back at the Crowne Plaza at Changi Airport in Singapore, paying a bit extra to avoid having to check out and spend five hours hanging around before Etihad check-in opens and we can get rid of our heavy bag. I upgraded the baggage allowance to cover all the extra goodies we're bringing back, but actually they only add about 4kg to the total (and the heavy stuff is for us!). We flew here from Perth with Scoot, Singapore Airlines new long-haul budget offshoot. You pay extra for all the frills, including hiring an iPad if you want to watch movies (we didn't). We got a "Super" seat with excellent legroom in the "Silent Scoot" part of the cabin (no children) for a very good price. They didn't have my prepaid food on their manifest but sorted it out when I showed it to them on my printed itinerary. It was a very good salad, but a Toblerone and a can of iced green tea was a bit of a strange dessert. When descending into Changi the pilot suddenly opened all the throttles and went round again, which was a bit disconcerting. After we landed he explained it was because of a flight control malfunction, they went back up to go through the check list and sort it out - the plane was an ex-Singapore Airlines Boeing 777, probably wouldn't have happened with an Airbus where the wings are made in Bristol.

On our last day in Oz Linda and Ross showed us round a bit of the local neighbourhood, including the rose garden they used to own, which they hired out for weddings. We took their dog round one of his regular walks, and the wildlife proved obliging again. Kangaroos watched us warily, but the dog is elderly and no threat. He took no notice of the big, slow, lizard that Ross found, which stayed nice and still for photographs. The only drawback of the route was that it was also followed by horse riders, and the evidence of their progress meant that the fly population was numerous, and excessively friendly.

We're really grateful to Linda and Ross for showing us so much of the southern part of WA, and being such kind and generous hosts. Now it was time to tear ourselves away and head to the airport and home via Manchester, arriving early on an October morning. It may prove to be a bit of a shock to the system.

Sunset over the lake from our room at Rottnest. Wind turbine provides power for the desalination plant for the island:

One of the magpies that come when called by Ross, they will feed from his fingers:

Not a bad bird to have nicking your flowers - an Australian Ringneck parrot, known as a 28 because of its call:

Kangaroo keeping watch on us:

Final pic of Aussie wildlife, a Western Blue-tongue Lizard (he seems to have lost a bit of his tail):