19 Feb - 2 March 2009 - NEW ZEALAND GRAND JURNEY

Qweenstown NZ
Matakauri Lodge
27-28 Feb 09

GOLFING AT MILLBROOK RESORT

Calamity & Devil Duck taking the 43 meter plunge at the Kawarau Bridge. She has the tee-shirt to prove it. Oooooorah!!!!

Young ready to take off down the Luge in Qweenstown. You go girl!!!!

The Gang - Greg, Young Sue, Pat, Calamity, Rob & Tim

CYCLING - Too windy, to many hills any way too much like work. Other than that.....awesome!!

22-24 Feb 09

Wharekauhau Lodge, Pallisar Bay, Wairarapa NZ

(below) Young Sue & Calamity 4-wheeling on the beach with the beautiful Pacific Ocean as a back drop

(below) Young Sue pets a not so wooly lamb after a shearing demonstration

Rotorua NZ

20-21 Feb 09

Pat, Tim & Young Sue at Wai O Tapu (Sacred Waters)

Greg, Pat, Rob and Young Sue at Wai O Tapu

Rob, Calamity, Young Sue & Greg at Wai O Tapu, Devil's Lake

Calamity's first Ginger Beer on bthe drive to Rotorua

(above) Calamity & Young Sue posing with the T-Rex named Sue at the National Museum in Auckland. (below) Still at the museum.

Calamity and Young Sue arrived in Auckland NZ on 20 Feb. The rain is still with us, along with super strong winds. We stayed at the Hilton Auckland, which was byfar the worst hotel we have stayed in. We don't recommend it. But, it's where we connect with the Butterfield & Robinson guides and the other couple on the NZ Grand Journey.

Our NZ Grand Journey began with our departure from Auckland on 18 February for Rotorua. Due to the horrible weather, we were unable to fly on to the Treetops Resort via helicopter, so we opted to drive vice fly commercially. It was a great road trip and gave us the opportunity to get to know one another and, Calamity had her first non-alcoholic Ginger Beer. Yum, yum. Our B&R Guides were Rob &Tim and the other couple sharing this journey with us were Greg & Pat from Bermuda.

17 & 18 February 2009 - Sydney, Australia

Calamity and Young Sue left Singapore and flew onto Sydney for a few days before continuing on to Auckland, NZ for the start of a Butterfield and Robinson Grand Journey. It was raining when we arrived and continued to rain off and on throughout our short time there. This drastic change of weather is no doubt due to Young Sue's decision to throw away her umbrella early on. Yeah right :-).

Singapore, Malaysia

Four Seasons Maldives Explorer

Four Seasons Explorer

Four Seasons Resort, Maldives

Arrival in Male, Malaysia and catching the water taxi to the Four Seasons Resort



The start of my SCUBA adventure in the Maldives

Orient Express - Bangkok to Singapore

Sue with champagne in our cabin on the Orient Express



Another mode of transportation enjoyed on a day excursion off the Orient Express




Kim enjoying a good book on the Orient Express. look how small the beds are.

Bayon Tree Resort, Phuket, Thailand

Banyon Tree Resort, Phuket, Thailand

Golfing at Banyon Tree Resort, Phuket, Thailand.

Aren't the caddies great?

Young Sue in her fancy PJs at the Banyan Tree Resort Phuket. She had to buy these in Bangkok when Thai Air lost her luggage for 4 days. Thank goodness, her luggage caught up with us in Phuket.

Kim with Devil Duck at the the Banyan Tree Resort in Phuket. This pic was taken in our private walled in villa. Very nice.

Siem Reap, CAMBODIA

(Upper) Kim cycling in Siem Reap. Main entrance to Angkor Wat in the background.

Devil Duck at Angkor Thom (Pic 2) Angkor Wat (Pic 3 & 4) - note the scaffolding for renovation - we climbed to the top with the archeologist who's been on site for 20 years. This was a real treat because the upper areas of Angkor Wat were closed off to the public.

I'M BACK

Banyon Tree Resort

Phuket, Thailand
30 Jan 2009

Hi All,

Man oh man. What a pain in the you know what. I just don't have the knack for this blog. Earlier today I logged on and once in my site, all the blog instructions were in Thai. So, I have abandoned my laptop and am in the hotel library and low and behold, on their computers it comes up in English. So, I have made a sketch where instructions are and hope all will line up later...regardless of the language. Arghhhhhh!

My Butterfield & Robinson Indochina Grand Journey was absolutely amazing. It was by far the best decision I have made in a very long time. I am a better person, spiritually, because of this journey.

BUDDAH AT THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE

(Thailand/Laos/Myanmar (Burma)

LUANG PRABANG, LAOS

Jodi and Kim at Lady Buddah statue during our bike ride.

HUE, VIETNAM

Working in the fields picking rice.

Standing outside one of the gates into the Imperial City in Hue, Vietnam. Ron & Terry fron El Paso TX, Doug & Sharon from Toronto CAN and Calamity Kim from Tucson AZ.

On our last day in way, we vanned our way to this beatiful waterfall, where we enjoyed a lovely breakfast. Following breakfast, we rode our bikes to the Hue Airport where we boarded our jet and did a quick 15 minute hop to the Da Nang Airport, where we jumped back on our bikes and rode to our hotel in Hoa An. Today was a 55km cummulative bike ride.

A sign at the waterfall that caught my eye.

After landing at Da Nang and jumping on our bikes, we had to ferry across this river to stay on course to our hotel. What a great adventure.

Stopped at Pho 24 in Hoa An for the best pho around (similar to chicken noodle soup), on our way to the hotel.

TET offerings.

The Morning Glory Cooking School in Hoa An, Vietnam. We prepared our own meals.

Well sports fans, I'll cover Cambodia in a separate blog and after that, Young Sue's and Calamity Kim's time in Phuket, Thailand.

SF/Calamity