And take the earlier schedule, the rain tend to comes in pm n the will cancel the heli or cut the walk short.

My trip was during early dec, summer…it rained half way during the walk…n ours was the last grp of the day.

Starlight,

I was staying at franz too…but made the 30mins drive to fox.
Do compare the franz vs fox glacier pics on tripadvisor to choose which is better…i recalled the franz glacier was much dirtier n hardly any blue ice…then again the condition changes all the time.

starlight1968sg\" post_id=\"1905934\" time=\"1554939213\" user_id=\"14025:

Anybody tried the helicopter ride with walk at Franz Josef? Each pax costs nearly NZ$500 and very expensive ...

I took the Fox glacier heli& walk 3yrs ago. It's ex but I'm glad I did it ( i did the trekking 18yrs ago without heli, but now its not reachable by just trekking alone)

Got to be a little careful when doing the walk, its quite slippery & I fell at the final bits (only me though, the rest of the 10 ppl were fine) .. if you dont intend to take up this activity, perhaps should skip franz josef& fox glacier totally. There's nothing else there.

I chose Fox cos i read that the were more blue ice ..indeed saw quite many. U can check out tripadvisor for the pics & review

(oh, becos it was so ex, I didnt bring kids & parents for the heli, left them at motel)

.zeit:

Do you know your niece's UAS? What's the uni admission ranking point for an A for CLB? Can't be H1 ranking point, right?

No...don't know uas. She's art student in uni

But to be able to take secondary clb, requirement is strict. They look at psle chinese result. But i could not recall whats the grade, if got A certainly cannot drop to clb

With o level clb can also continue A level clb. A niece of mine did it, & requirement must pass A level clb to hv the cert. But she mentioned it was easy, its only p5 std for A level clb.

She’s already in Ntu this yr.

My family didn't hv flu jab..my son did catch a cold with the overnight flight & sudden adaption to UK winter, we were there around end nov. But he got better after a good sleep.


By the way, UK winter was v. windy and at 6C, it felt much colder than Hokkaido winter @0C. We managed to adapt to the weather the next day though, it still felt cold all the time.

So if you are the type that cannot sleep well with overnight plane, don't over plan the 1st day. We were really tired by 4pm UK time, and I think we slept from 7pm+ and don't even hv energy for proper dinner.

Some tips I wanna share with everyone planning a trip to UK:

1) It rained very frequently in UK winter : out of 15days we were there , we probaly only blessed with 3-4days with no rain. So bring along good waterproof jacket.

2) London subways were very squeezy, small, and ppl walk very fast & with stairs everywhere too. I got a phobia taking subway even though I stayed in zone 1, Kingcross.

3) Premier Inn is very worth the $ for everywhere in England..Outside london, it 's really cheap..as low as GBP60-GBP80 for 2A2C with breakfast. So look into premier inn before you try find others.

4) For london stay, I think Leicester is really a better place for hotel. The chinatown /covent garden and nearby surrounding have all the famous restaurant, like BigEasy/Burger&lobster/Hummingbird bakery/Flat Iron..everything you need to try in London. Also especially useful for kids who crave for Chinese food.

5) I don't recommend spending winter in Lake district, cos of the rains. But if you ever drive & around the area of Manchester/Lake district, pls do not miss a night stay in Augill castle. Very reasonable price of GBP200 for 2A2C with breakfast (a night stay at Lake district would cost GBP160). http://stayinacastle.com/
I took the Raisebeck& Derwent room , cos it was the cheapest and it was within main building of the castle. We went midweek & had the whole castle by ourselves. Don't miss the afternoon tea.

6) Scotland Highland is not to be missed..but during my visit there was challange with rain & yellow warning of storm. If you only can spare short time, 1N like me, choose Glencoe & make a detour for Glen Etive. We saw the wild stag/deers there.

7) At tripadvisor, they don't encourage driving in England cos of the cheaper trains & congested highway. But our best times were spent driving around. The traffic is like our highway traffic, but it was at very fast speed..at times it was over 130km/h.

We used Hertz as I hv the dics code. But it seemed always cheaper to book from hertz.au compared to hertz.sg & hertz.uk

9) Primark stuff are cheap & stylish..(my gal got crazy over unicorn clothing there, so many design n so cheap...for eg, long sleeve kids t shirt GBP2.80, short sleeve GBP1.80) ..so if you lacking of anything just head there. They open at 8am, while attractions open at 10am, so if u r early bird u know where to go..

10) UK Sim card- Three
I bought it from SG: $33 from the shop
http://localsim.com.sg/europe-sim-card/4G-UK-Europe-30-Days-12GB-3000mins-3000SMS-SIM-card

Jellytale:

Can anyone advise how many sets of uniform and PE attire we should purchase? Are they allowed to wear track shoes or only school shoes allowed? TIA.

​Mon-Thur: Uniform
Fri:​ Black Polo T with uniform pant
PE t shirt/shorts: 2 days per week, bring to school to change


Buy more school crest, easily misplaced. (3 piece perhaps)
Tie-hardly wear, so 1 is enough

There will be a 2N camp, at the start of sch...need about 3/4 PE t shirt

So i believed I bought 3 set of PE , 3 sets of uniform, 1 Polo.
Some also hv jackets, cos classroom are air conditioned.

Later on, when school start, they will be made known of house. Only then buy house t shirt.

Some months the PE lesson also coupled with swiming.

Shoes: >70% white required, so I just bought pure white track shoes.

Some other info:
No shuttle bus to MOELC for 3rd lang.
So would be good if you use a weekend, to trial run with your child how to get there.

Jellytale:

Just wondering why there's nothing put up on the RI website on the S1 reporting to school on 20 Dec. Like where to go, what we will be expecting on that day, purchase of uniform and books etc.

If u could, buy the uniforms today or tomorrow at their bookshop,open till 3pm, super long q on 20dec.. then you can hv all the time to let your boy try.


The books even though it was long q, but they sell in ready box...so was manageable. That time bookshop did not hv sec1 booklist, so I couldn't buy earlier.

Kindle paperwhite is 2016 version. Came with back light. Abt $180 from lazada. But its heavier than no backlight.


The waterproof new kindle…price still v high.