Christmas Kiwi Greetings from Richard and Jen 2018

Early seasons greetings to you… we hope your year has been one of happiness and prosperity.

From our end, we have been somewhat remiss in our correspondence over the last year (if not 2!), however, we can reassure you we are alive and well and continue to live life to the max!

Our travels over 2017 and 2018 saw us continue our sailing journey aboard “Our Rose” from the East Coast of Australia, up to Thursday Island, across Indonesia Archipelagos, and up the west coast of Malaysia and Thailand.

Highlights of these areas were:

*New Years and Australia Day on Sydney Harbor

*5 week land trip to New Zealand (1^st time in 5 years)

*Helping with stricken monohull s/v Balikcil across the Indonesia Islands, involving 7 boats (amazing comradeship!)

*A month’s scuba diving in the amazing Komodo Marine Park (world class)

*Exploring the Hongs in Thailand (huge natural Island Caves)

*Enjoying the Islands of Koh Phayam (Hippyville) and the Similan & Surin Islands for more diving

*Having Julie & Martin, then Anne and Neil join us on Our Rose, and meeting up with Hils and Doug in Malaysia and meeting up with Matt and Jono in KL.

We also enjoying quite a bit of land travel during the Monsoon season (March – November), Hanoi, Siem Reap, Cameron Highlands, Penang, KL and Jen did a trip to Port Douglas to spend some time with our dear friends Julie and Martin.

The Future???  well, we have been invited to help with a Boutique Ski Lodge in Madarao Japan over the coming winter season.  As we have not seen a winter for 6 years and love skiing, we decided to say Yes!  So we will be in the best snow area of Japan (10 – 13 meters average snow fall) from December to March.  Look up http://firsttracksmadarao.lodgify.com

As for “Our Rose”, she is in the capable hands of a broker and yacht care company in Rebak Marina during this time.  As much as we love and will miss her, we hope she sells so we can continue our land travel journey in 2019.

The Boys… as mentioned, we met Matt and Jono in KL during the year.  Matt was on his way from New Zealand to Scotland, utilizing the opportunity to work in the UK  for Kiwis under age of 31.  He is now working at a science museum in Glasgow and also continues to enjoy his passion of swing and blues dancing.  Jono has been travelling and working in Vietnam since early 2017 and has qualified with TEFL as a foreign language (English) teacher and is now based in Bangkok.  We are very proud of them both.

So, that’s it from us.  We hope you have an amazing Christmas and New Year.  Maybe see you in Japan!  Keep in touch; love to hear all your news

A few pics of Our Journey in 2017/2018 (in no particular order)…

A Very Merry Christmas from us to you…

Hils and Doug...

Hils had said she wanted to "run away" for her special birthday,

so we were so thrilled when they decided to run to us...

We all met in Penang, where we had her birthday...

A beautiful "Little Black Dress" tailormade was her birthday present from Doug

3 days before the birthday, getting measured...

Of course no Little Black Dress is complete without the right shoes,

Doug in his element bargaining for Hils shoes...

The finished product, ready on Hils Birthday...

Tried on at the Tailor, of course with the new shoes!

Hils birthday dinner was delicious...

Lots of sightseeing in Penang...

then we drove to Cameron Highlands - much cooler temperature...

and so much to learn about tea.  

Most of the produce in Malaysia is grown in the Cameron Highlands

Tea as far as the eye can see...

After Cameron Highlands it was off to Kuala Lumpur.

Hils and Doug brought a beautiful bottle of Penfolds for us to enjoy for Jen's birthday - thank you

The street food stalls are amazing

as were some of the wine bars (haha)...

Richards Birthday, Australia and Kuala Lumpur...

After a wonderful time in Cambodia it was back to Our Rose...

Richards 60th birthday was had in style on Our Rose, with a beautiful 4 course meal

and wonderful wine.  Most of the day spent on the phone to dear friends and family in New Zealand and around the world...

Jen then headed off to Port Douglas to spend some time with our dear friends Julie and Martin...

Had such a wonderful time with them both - thank you...

Heading back to Richard and Our Rose, 

who is continually pampered and kept looking as perfect as possible!, 

we headed to Kuala Lumpur to meet Matt (who was heading to Scotland to live)

and Jono, who came over from Vietnam as a surprise for Matt.

It had been many years since we had all been together and it was a very special time

We were also thrilled to experience Matt teaching a dance class in KL,

he is a wonderful teacher!

Matt is in the background demonstrating dance moves to the class...

Matt and his class for a group photo, to a mirror...

Cambodia

With Our Rose safe and sound in Rebak Marina,

we headed to Siem Reap, Cambodia for a month before Richards Birthday

We stayed at "Greenleaf Boutique Hotel" a non-profit Hotel, 

who install water wells in very poor areas and help build schools.

Doing Yoga most mornings, being introduced to (and absolutely loving) Nia Dance,

and exploring the amazing temples and learning the history was fantastic...

Getting collected from the airport in a moto-tricycle was a new experience...

The Greenleaf Boutique Hotel...

Our room was lovely...

and Tavoos Garden, where we did the Yoga, Nia, Painting Classes 

and eat lovely food

Mr Lin - the Manager (and his team) looked after us amazingly...

He took us to show us some of the wells they had put in

During our time there we met some really fabulous guests also... cheers Sarah

We were taken to a lovely spot for a cooking class...

lovely gardens reaching out toward the rice paddies

We were to experience yet another New Year - this one being Khmer New Year...

it was going to get "very" loud...

with dozens of speakers like this set up all down "Pub Street"

The children loved it - getting into the swing of things for three days, 

everywhere we went we were shot with water guns...

We were so thrilled that Jono decided to come and see us while we were there...

We went and saw the Phare Circus which was incredible.

All performers, musicians, artists etc have come from homeless, abusive backgrounds, drug addicts and have turned their lives around, continuing to educate and help others

Yes, she shoots the bow and arrow with her feet and hit the target...

Another hotel had asked the Phare artists to come and paint a mural on one of his walls,

He put on a wine and food evening, and we went and watched the mural being painted,

it took a mere 3 hours and was incredible (all proceeds from the evening went to Phare)...

The first picture is when we arrived and they had been going less than an hour,

The second is the finished product

We certainly see some interesting signs and street art on our travels...

Land Mines are still a huge problem in Cambodia,

we went and saw the Dog Detection, 

and also Mine Rats...

Check out the size of the rat in the picture below...

Of course Siem Reap wouldnt be complete without seeing temples...

and the famous Angkor Wat