Gap Years for Children - Kids Page

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” - Henry Miller

Trying to encapsulate everything that the children learnt is impossible so I have taken extracts of their journals. (Spelling mistakes and all ;-) To read their full journals, please click the links to left.

One thing I found, when it came to reading the children's journals back to myself was how most of their days revolved around meals and meal times and snacks! I also found it intriguing how substantially the quality of their writing improved over the time we were away.

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Savannah in the cook islands

Savannah aged 9 - America - The last leg of the trip

When I woke up were were in San Francisco, and we wanted to look around first and see what there was to do and then toataly by mistake we ended up going across the Golden gate bridge it was a really weird experience. After that we went to look for a motel and it was quite difficult. In the end we found one and it was called Surf Motel. For dinner we went to a restraunt called ihop and it wasn't the best meal I've ever had, it was saugaes wrapped in a pancake. The next day we went to fishermans wharf. We went to peir 39!!! We went to see the seals and they were pushing each other off the jetty it was very funny. I bought my self a jumper that I had been looking for.

For lunch Eliza and I had calamari and Eliza said she liked it but when she found out what it was she said she didn't like it. In the everning we went to see a movie called ice age 2 it was really good. The next morning we went to fishermans wharf again and we went to a dolphin art gallery it had some very nice paintings we after that we went to the hostel mum stayed in when she was last here it was quite big and it didn't look any thing like the ones in New Zealand! There was another shop and it had some lovely wind chimes! The next day was when daddy was leaving to go to Los angeles!!! So he dropped us off at Uinion square and off he went. We wet in to a shopping centre and we went into Macy's and there were some lovely things there.

Went on a tram and it was quite scary because there was no room for me to sit down so I was left hanging of the edge. We went to a bulding called the explanatorium and it had loads of thing to do and it was great because it was free it had lots of tricks and there was a tea cup but when you try to touch it it your hand would go staight through it. It was amazing. That night we had a lovely Italian dinner I had pamazan chicken mum had a spicy salad sort of meal and Eliza had to be really boring and had chese and tomato pasta. The next day we were leaving so we packed up and waited for our cab when it finally came it was godbye America.

Savannah - Singapore

Sentosa Island Cable Car - 15 Storeys up

Today we went to sentosa island at 8:00 to get there we took a taxi and he took us to the cable car station when we got in Eliza and I were so scared (aahhh). When we got over the sea we so rleifed. When we finally got off the cable car we went on loads of cool buses to dolphin lagoon were we watched them train the dolphins After the show we got to get our photo taken stroking a dolphin. It was really exciting it felt really smooth, the breed was pink dolphin his name was pet after that we collected our and went to underwater wold.

When we got there is was heaving We squeezed our way through and there was a touch pool and I touched a bamboo shark and some rays. We walked into a tunnel and nearly fell over because we went on a travelator, and we saw a really cute dugong called Gracie who lost her mum who died when she was little so they saved her, when we were about to leave we saw a really sweet snake so we touched it. Mummy was scared but we forced her She finally stroked but she still doesn't like it.

I forgot to mention before we went to the dolphins we went to the beach and I made a decicion that I wasn't going to be scared if insects or any creatures. We were walking across a bridge and I think I saw a stone fish. They are poisonous. Then we went home and I really enjoyed today.

My impressions of the food in Singapore
Some of the food was really tasty and some of it was really uhg. They had a much bigge selection of food compared to england. The people in Singapore love a lot of weird food.

My impressions of the people
The people are very friendly. When ever they smile at me, they always squeeze their eye too.

Singapore Night Zoo
The night Zoo was really fun I felt sorry for the animal because we weren't allowed flash camera but everyone was using them. There was chetha standing on a log and he looked really scared

Water Taxi in Dubai

Eliza aged 11- New Zealand

Dune Boarding, Cape Reinga and the Tepaki Sand Dunes

The next day we did all the morning duties then we packed up to go sand boarding and to go up to Cape Reinga, the most northern point of New Zealand that you can get to by road. The bus arrived, well; it wasn't really a bus at all. It was like an enormous 4by4 and it had high wheels and it weird painting on it. We got on and drove off to a forest place were we had another little walk. There were loads of really big trees called kauri, which were hundreds of years old. Unfortunately it got a bit crowded so we left quite quickly. I got to sit in the front so I wouldn't be sick, so did Savannah.

I could see the sea and to my amazement we got to drive on the actual beach. We drove along I was looking for wild horses but I didn't see any. We did see a Mercedes Benz that had sunk the sand that's somewhere where you shouldn't park your car! The beach was called 90 mile beach but it was really 64 miles. It was a long drive, but it was nice to drive next to the sea, finally we got there. We jumped out and stretched our legs, we were handed these big boards, which were really heavy.

The sand dunes were called Tepaki and it was huge and I'm not exaggerating, it was a long way to the top. At last I got to the there and lay down on the board. I went zooming down I felt fast as a bullet weeeeeeeeeee! It was like I was Queen of speed and then it stopped, it was like finishing a chocolate cake!

Eliza dealing with chopsticks in Malaysia

Singapore - 1st leg

Today we woke up at 4 in the morning and couldn't get back to sleep because of jet lag. I was so bored and all I could think about was breakfast on the first floor. Finally it was time to get up and breakfast was only 8 floors down. We got changed into our clothes and went downstairs in my favourite transport the elevator. I could smell delicious food that I could eat not just ignore. We had a good sniff around and found what we wanted I had pork sausages with fried egg two Danishes and some crackers I was stuffed after that.

So we went upstairs my turn to press the elevator buttons! and let our food go down which took 2seconds. We headed to the Botanic gardens, which had some really pretty flowers, and water features it would be the last thing you would find in England. Mum fell in love with orchid garden and I fell in love with the cool house. The sun was baking me alive I was relieved to find a water fountain. Eventually I felt hot and tired so we decided to come home to cold shower I wasn't really that bothered about pressing the elevator buttons I was just so hot. I felt nice and relaxed when I had the cold shower in fact I was so relaxed that I fell asleep for most of the day and woke up at 8 in the night my tummy was groaning at me like mad.

So we went and got the food which scrumdidilyumpscous I felt like I was going to pop there were burps all around. We decided to go for a walk, which I enjoyed. The lights were on the street and it was very effective I soon thought that the walk was not going to end my feet were really sore and I felt tired so we finally went back to the hotel and dropped onto the bed. I had to do my homework and I finally got that out the way and jumped into bed at last!

Pet the pink dolphin at Sentosa

I had a wonderful day today. We went to Dolphin Lagoon on Sentosa Island. Well first we had to get a taxi to the cable car station. I wasn't expecting that it would be so high, it was really scary. I was relieved to get back onto the ground again but it was pretty strange because there weren't any people around because it was so early, it felt like a ghost town. We had a look around until we spotted something that was like a squirrel and a chipmunk, it kept on jumping from tree to tree.

It was soon gone and so were we, we went to catch a bus for free, the bus was nice and cold, I didn't want to get off! At last we were at Dolphin Lagoon but we had to wait a while before they let us in so while we were waiting we had a splash in the sea. The life guard warned us about jellyfish and stone fish that were poisonous. After that we were a bit scared to go in the water so we went for a ride in the bus which was air conditioned, which cooled me down a lot. It was time to go in to see the dolphins and I was really excited, there was a long wait.

Suddenly the pink dolphins came shooting up and out of the water I kept on making notes in my mind what the dolphin trainers were wearing and doing so when I went to work them I would know what to wear and do. It was soon over but not for me I got to go and touch the dolphin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! His name was Pet, he felt so soft, it was so nice but I had to be dragged away from him.

Next we went to underwater world and there was a touch pool and I got to touch a bamboo shark! There was a tunnel with loads of fish and there was a travelalator. There was bull shark, which is the most dangerous shark in the world! It was getting crowded and it was time to go but on the way out there was a man with his pet snake, we were allowed to touch it felt weird.