Crowninshields in Singapore

27 July 2011

2011-07-27T16:00:00.040+08:00

Today everything changed. A simple turn on the rope swing over the river at Garner State Park in Texas resulted in a devestating injury. I broke my leg and will be recovering for next 4-5 months.

This is the view from the water side looking at the rope swing...

This is what I saw after waking up from surgury....

On 9 August I had my final reconstructive surgery. This is a photo of what in now inside my leg...

Here is a recent pic of the scar. It has really healed very nicely. I am impressed with the doctors work...

(river photos courtesy of my oldest daughter)

Adios

wfc

Happy Halloween 2009..!!

2009-10-31T19:00:00.000+08:00

WOW! This was our 3rd Halloween in Singapore. Hard to believe....

Adios

wfc

Beijing - Hutongs

2009-10-18T14:00:00.018+08:00

Apparently a trip to Beijing is not complete without a trip to see the Hutongs of years ago.

The best way to do this is to get a rickshaw ride through the old neighborhoods..

As usual, there were interesting things to see along the way, like this hummer parked on the sidewalk. Surely the owner was not concerned about where he parked it.

We did not eat here but, the name certainly caught my attention..

We had a great guide who stopped several times along the way to explain all of the interesting facts about the area...

It's fun to play in the dirt no matter where you are from...

The cartons of empty returnable beer bottles stacked up along the shop caught my eye..

Finally, we visited an actual home where the locals lived and got a chance to learn about life in the Hutong.

Chinese checkers....

Western influence....even in the Hutong!!

And one final note, I wanted to mention that it is a small world for expats over hear in Asia. In the hotel, I ran into another family from Singapore that has a daughter who is classmates with Amanda. And when we reached the airport, Natalie saw one of her friends from her class and they just so happened to be on the same flight. So here they are playing their Nintendo DS's at some point during the 6 hour flight home.

Adios

wfc

Beijing - Tian'anmen Square

2009-10-18T11:00:00.017+08:00

After the Forbidden City we walked across the street to Tian'anmen Square

More photo op requests...

Apparently these decorative columns were a temporary feature on the square, so we were lucky to get to see them.

We wanted a family photo on the square near to the spot where the military tank was in a showdown with that brave chinese student back during the protests in 1989.

So of course, a line of locals formed wanting their photo with the girls...

This boy was especially interested in the golden hair...

Next we stopped for a quick photo op near the Beijing Opera house aka National Centre for the Performing Arts (China)

Another fantastic lunch today...

Adios

wfc

Beijing - Forbidden City

2009-10-18T10:00:00.021+08:00

Today we visited the Forbidden City

We arrived early to avoid the crowds but already - this place was a MAD-HOUSE..!! Besides the Great Wall - this is probably the most visited tourist site in China.

While waiting for Catherine to buy the tickets, we did run into this little cute boy. He was so fascinated by the girls, he could not stop looking at them.

Today Natalie was not feeling well, so it was her turn to get carried around.

The numbers of people was quite staggering...

One of the themes of our trip was that all of the locals kept asking us if they could take a photo with the girls. It was as if they had never seen white folk before. So in most cases, we obliged them...

Adios

wfc

Beijing - Donghuamen Night Market

2009-10-17T17:00:00.012+08:00

We arrived back to the hotel as the sun was going down....

The girls wanted to hit the swimming pool and order room service...

So Kristy and I decided to venture out and explore the famous Donghuamen Night Market

We had eaten a late lunch of peking duck so we were not that hungry, we just sampled a few of the items that they had for sale.

These photos are worth ZOOMING in on...

Here are just a few of the sites that we saw along the short walk from the hotel...

Adios

wfc

Beijing - Olympic Stadium and Temple of Heaven

2009-10-17T14:00:00.017+08:00

On the way to lunch we saw a few really cool buildings like this one shaped like a dragon...

Today's lunch was the famous peking duck. Catherine took us a a local place a little off the beaten path and it was by far our best meal of the trip.

The chef brings your duck and carves it right at your table....

and of course, more local beer.

We made a quick stop by Beijing's National Stadium or the Bird's Nest as it's commonly referred to as. What amazing architecture...

Finally today, we toured the Temple of Heaven

Just one of Amanda's many many afternoon "Daddy, I'm tired-carry me!!" free rides.

This particular baby outfit caught my eye....I was trying to think how this actually works but then I decided I better not think about it too much...maybe I don't really want to know.

There is this one spot in the temple where if you stand on that specific spot and yell really loud, the gods supposedly can better hear you....after pushing and muscling our way to the center, Amanda and I gave it a try.

Adios

wfc

Beijing - Summer Palace

2009-10-17T11:00:00.013+08:00

After our trip to the zoo to see the panda's we came to tour the amazing Summer Palace

We are fortunate to have a beautiful day to see the palace, lake and surrounding area...

We opted to rent a boat, since it is an easy way to move around the lake and see all of the sites...These are small electric boats that you can drive by yourself at your own pace.

All of the ladies were extremely interested in trying the freshly roasted corn being sold by the street vendors...

The girls just wanted hot dogs for a snack...

Our driver was waiting with a rose for each of the girls upon our return to the car...a very nice gesture

Adios

wfc

Beijing Zoo

2009-10-17T10:00:00.008+08:00

Let's be honest....we only came here to see the Panda's

Here they are..!!

Emily and Natalie could not take the smell in the tiger cage area....

Adios

wfc

Beijing - Ming Dynasty Tombs

2009-10-16T14:00:00.012+08:00

Ming Dynasty Tombs

First stop was Dingling Tomb...

Next was the Sacred Way

Along the road there are 18 pairs of stone statues of figures & mythical animals, which are all sculpted from whole stones and larger than life size.

Adios

wfc

Beijing - Creek Fish Restaurant

2009-10-16T13:00:00.009+08:00

On the way back from the wall, we stopped at the Creek Fish Restaurant.

Rainbow Trout is the specialty here. Our guide helped us place our order with the waitress outside near to where the fish are kept fresh in the stream...

Apparently they diverted a mountain stream and raise these fish in a network of mountain water reservoirs...

Time to get our fish out....

Fortunately, the girls were already inside the restaurant and didn't see the fish get "wacked"

Oh yeah! I noticed that they also keep the beer cold in the mountain stream, so of course I had to place my order...

We went with the recommended "barbeque" method of cooking, which was incredible...

Adios

wfc

Beijing - Great Wall -Zhenluguan Gateway

2009-10-16T11:00:00.020+08:00

The part of the wall that we visited is called the "Zhenluguan Gateway"

Amanda takes a breather on the way up..

Despite having a fever, Daryn did a great job. Since this was her only chance to see and climb the wall, we told her that she had no choice but to go. She did a great job-no complaining, and by the end of the hike she was so proud of herself.

The view from inside the watchtower. You can see the original section of the wall in the distance.

Natalie was terrified of being on the wall because she does not like heights. I had to threaten her with her life to go up on top of the watchtower to get this family photo. In her defense, it was a little scary being up there without any guardrails or anything....

Daryn's "I made it..!!" shot

Here's the view on the walk back down. Natalie was on her butt the whole way...

Kristy and I then walked up this direction to see the "old" section of the wall which was original with no restoration....

Being so old, the original sections are nothing but ruins...

The view down from this side...

You can barely see the walkway up to the next watchtower on this section due to all the overgrowth...

What an amazing day. We were very fortunate to be able to see this historic site.

Adios

wfc

Beijing - Getting to the Wall

2009-10-16T10:00:00.026+08:00

I had asked our guide to take us to a very remote part of the great wall off the beaten path. My goal was to see a part of the wall where we could be the only ones on the wall at that time for picture taking, walking around, etc.....

Catherine did a great job and chose a great spot.... We had a wonderful drive to the wall. The drive was long (about 2.5 hours) but the scenery was amazing.

Catherine's father did a great job driving us around during the trip...

We arrived at this remote village right on the mountain range.....

Upon our arrival, we saw a few local tourists coming back from the village.

The local toilet....

After taking a quick look around the village, we started the 15 minute hike up the trail to the wall...

Amanda had to stop along the way to pick one of the pretty mountain flowers...

Almost there...

Finally we arrived!! The gateway....... But wait!! What good is this nice big wall with a hole built into it??

Adios

wfc

Beijing - Jingshan Park

2009-10-15T15:00:00.005+08:00

After lunch we spent the afternoon visiting Jingshan Park

But first, we took a quick shopping trip...

On the way to the park, we saw a car with this license plate. In China the number "8" is a lucky number, therefore, this person probably paid alot of money to get this particular license plate....

Finally we arrived at Jingshan Park. From here you have a wonderful view of the Forbidden City.

Unfortunately, we discovered that Daryn had a very high fever after lunch, so we dropped her off with Emily back at the hotel to get some rest. So Daryn missed this part of the trip and is not in any of the pictures...

There was a nice spot for the tourists to dress up in formal attire and take photos....

Tomorrow - The Great Wall!!

Adios

wfc

Beijing - Yonghegong Lama Temple

2009-10-15T11:00:00.003+08:00

Our first stop on day 1 was a trip to the Yonghegong Lama Temple.

We had arranged for a guide to provide transport and take us around....Catherine was fabulous and really enjoyed keeping Amanda occupied.

Yonghegong Lama Temple was an interesting start to our trip...

We arrived late to Beijing the night before, so we had a late start today. After the visit to the temple, it was already lunch time. We ate at a very good restaurant where many of the locals go...

The girls always enjoy seeing the local version of the coke cans...

All of the plates, bowls and utensils at all of the restaurants came in these pre-sterilized packaging....weird

Ahhhhhh....local beer

This was one of the best dishes we tasted on the entire trip. It was some kind of hot and spicy chicken made with herbs and spices that made your tongue go a bit numb. Incredible...

Adios

wfc

A380: Sydney to Singapore

2009-08-12T10:00:00.003+08:00

I was so excited to fly back to Singapore. Not because I wanted to leave Australia, but because we were flying on the Airbus A380, the largest passenger airliner in the world.

This thing was massive. We were seated on the upper deck all the way in the back of the plane. You could barely hear the engines back there and it was a really smooth ride. I can't imagine what it's like to ride in the Suites...

Look at how small this ground crew guy is....

Well - we had a great trip to Australia and hopefully we will get to go back and explore more of the land down under...

Adios

wfc

Sydney - Day 3

2009-08-11T17:00:00.013+08:00

Today was awesome, we took a tour of the Sydney Operal House.

We were not sure how interested the girls would be but they loved it too. The tour was very informative. We learned alot about the story of how the Opera House came to be.

Touring the inside was incredible. We were not allowed to take photographs inside the Concert Hall or the Opera Hall. However, the rest of the building was fair game.

These girls clearly have absolutely nothing to worry about in life...

Looking back from the Opera House towards Circular Quay...

Adios

wfc

Sydney - Day 2

2009-08-10T17:00:00.014+08:00

We awoke to a big surprise..!! Some sort of tropical bird had landed on the railing of our balcony....

Today was Zoo day, which meant another ferry ride across Sydney Harbour.

The Zoo had a great layout which offered a cable car up to the top of the hill and then you basically wind your way down through the zoo...

The girls were excited to see the Koala's as they skipped down the hill...

Amanda enjoyed playing with the Koala statue while we waited our turn to have an intimate encounter with a Koala bear.

It was worth the wait, the girls loved getting close to these cute little guys.

Next, Natalie found the cute baby lamb...

This was an amazing backdrop for a bird show, the sights of Sydney harbour...

Yet another Opera House pic taken while on the ferry....

Adios

wfc

Sydney - Day 1

2009-08-09T17:00:00.009+08:00

We decided to visit Manly Beach today. We were staying down near Circular Quay which was convenient to just walk down and hop on the ferry which took us across the bay....

Morning cafe on the ferry...It was a bit chilly in the morning.

The beach was amazing, and the surfers were already out on the waves.

Amanda kept busy terrorizing the seagulls.

We found yet another German pub around lunchtime...

We had a great first day...

Adios

wfc

Port Douglas to Sydney via Cairns

2009-08-08T17:00:00.007+08:00

We finally arrived in Sydney, our last stop. It didn't take us long to find a guy playing the Didgeridoo...

Then we took the girls out for a quick beer. Uh - yes, that would be ginger beer.

Dad had the real thing...

And of course, the first of about 10,000 pictures we took with the Opera House as a backdrop...

Adios

wfc

Port Douglas - Day 3

2009-08-07T17:00:00.011+08:00

Our last day in Port Douglas was spent just walking around town....

This tree was HUGEMONGOUS!!

This is definitely the tropic part of Australia.

HAHA - Not sure who this little boy was but he followed the girls around like a lost puppy dog for about 10 minutes....What a postcard perfect picture of my girls had it not been for the little guy. Can you say "photoshop" ??

Later after lunch we headed down to 4 Mile Beach....

For some reason this place made me think of Jimmy Buffett an aweful lot....

Adios

wfc

Port Douglas - Day 2

2009-08-06T17:00:00.016+08:00

There are two main attractions in this part of Australia, The GBR and the Daintree Rainforest. Today we took a guided trip to visit this amazing area...

We were lucky to have Mr. Tony himself, owner of Tony's Tropical Tours guide us...

We visited some beautiful places...

And learned alot along the way...

Part of the tour included a river boat cruise where we got to see the elusive "Estuarine" crocodile..

It was amazingly pristine on Cape Tribulation...

Even though it was extremely cold water, some of us brave folk had fun swimming at a private creek in Noah Valley...

This is the only way to enter the ice cold water...

Lastly - this picture probably won't mean much to those of you back in the US but this tree marker caught my eye when we stopped at a fruit farm on the return back to Port Douglas. They even grow Drurian in Oz....!! (No i didn't eat any...)

Another amazing day.

Adios

wfc

Port Douglas - Day 1

2009-08-05T17:00:00.015+08:00

Today was our long awaited trip to the Great Barrier Reef. This was a day trip out to visit the reef onboard the Poseidon.

Here are the girls checking out their snorkling gear during the 2 hr ride out to the reef...

This was the first of 3 stops....all of the snorklers jumped into the water to explore the amazing sights below.

After the first stop, the onboard biologist gave a educational talk on conservation of the reef.

Amanda was very engaged in the discussion...

Meanwhile, I was going scuba diving with the group of other divers.

We had a great lunch between dives...

Later in the day, Amanda lost interest in the eco-talks and reverted back to playing her DS...

As always, pictures never do it justice...

After a long day out on the reef, we just took it easy that evening hanging out and strolling around town.

Adios

wfc

Gold Coast to Port Douglas via Cairns

2009-08-04T17:00:00.009+08:00

Today was a travel day. So we are headed to the Great Barrier Reef....

After flying from Brisbane to Cairns, we took a short 1hr shuttle bus ride to Port Douglas.

Once we arrived Port Douglas, I took a walk down to the marina to check out the boat would be taking us out to the reef.

After a long day of travel the girls had some fun in the hotel pool...

Tomorrow - we head out to the reef.

Adios

wfc

Gold Coast - Day 3

2009-08-03T17:00:00.012+08:00

Today was Theme Park day. But before we did anything, Daryn was down at the waters edge taking the kayak out for an early morning ride....

We decided to go to Movie World.....

We picked a perfect day to go. The weather was awesome and we pretty much had the park to ourselves...

There was nobody in line to see Batman, so I decided to do the right thing....

Daryn really loved going in the Harry Potter store...

Amanda got a big kick waving to all the characters during the afternoon parade....

We had a great day.

Adios

wfc

Gold Coast - Day 2

2009-08-02T17:00:00.011+08:00

Natalie woke up and was making new friends down by the water...

Next we headed to the beach. One word. AMAZING......

On the walk down to the beach we noticed this little guy sitting out getting an early morning suntan.

It was a little chilly (since it was winter time down under) so we really didn't get in the water and just kinda hung out and strolled along the beach.

Once back at the Raffia House, we found the kayak's which we put to good use...

The girls figured out that when you get the least bit bored you can always just roll down the hill to keep busy....

Finally, for dinner, we decided to keep it simple, so we bought some local seafood and cooked it up ourselves....

Adios

wfc

Gold Coast - Day 1

2009-08-01T17:00:00.016+08:00

Well we are finally here. After months of planning and waiting we arrived in Brisbane. We took an overnight flight from Singapore and arrived around 9am.

No Kristy isn't driving. They drive on the left hand side of the road down under....

We arrived at Broadbeach, Gold Coast around noon. We were excited to check into our house rental, the Raffia House.

The girls were very excited to see the house...

The house was decorated with somewhat of a Balinese theme, so we felt right at home...

We spent the afternoon just hanging out at the house and resting a little bit.

We even had a swimming pool, although we didn't use it...It was winter down here after all..!!!

At the risk of being cheezy, I decided we would start our adventure in Oz by taking the girls to the Australian Outback Spectacular Show. It actually was a great evening. The girls loved it because the show had alot of horses in it. The dinner was good as well.

Adios

wfc

Father's Day 2009

2009-06-22T17:00:00.007+08:00

What a wonderful Fathers Day I had this year. After sleeping in I awoke to a pancake breakfast which the girls had prepared for me. They converted our apartment into a restaurant with waitress uniforms & menus and all!!

Natalie usually plays the role of the waitress. I think she was trying to use a french accent for some reason which was a nice touch....

The pancakes were awesome!!

Next came the gifts. Of course the best ones were the homemade Fathers Day cards...

The beer goggles were a surprise..!! This was Amanda's contribution - however I'm pretty sure she doesn't know what they are...

In the afternoon we hit the pool. I had a wonderful day with my girls...

Happy Fathers Day to everyone out there...

Adios

wfc

Romeo & Juliet.....

2009-06-04T17:00:00.003+08:00

Daryn took part in her classes end-of-the-year performance of Romeo & Juliet.

It was quite funny because the teacher gave them the script and they were asked to customize it for their audience. Since they knew the parents would be in the audience, they came up with several very clever "one liner's" The whole thing was quite hilarious.

Adios

wfc

2 years and counting.....

2009-06-01T17:00:00.018+08:00

2 years in Singapore already and what a wonderful ride so far. After thinking about it, I decided to take a different approach this year and shift the focus of this 2 year anniversary away from the Crowninshields and over to the ones we love. We miss you guys very much and even though we can't see you as much as we'd like to.

We think about you all the time....

And last but not least our dear Skipper...

Adios

wfc

Daryn turns 11...

2009-05-23T17:00:00.000+08:00

Daryn turned 11 years old on the 20th of May. She invited some of her friends to go see Monsters Vs Aliens. They met at Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream before the movie.

Daryn loves books!!

Apparently these are hard to come by in Sing....

We also celebrated at home with just the family. Emily made a fantastic cake....

Only 2 more years until she is a TEENAGER!!! Yikes!!

Adios

wfc

Cubadak Paradiso Village - Day 5 & 6

2009-05-12T10:00:00.016+08:00

Unfortunately it rained on day 5 and I didn't even take a single pic. Day 6 was basically eat breakfast, pack up and head back to Singapore, but don't worry - I still managed to take a total of 880 photos during our stay.

Here's what it looked like once we woke up after our final night of sleeping over the water...

Say goodbye to the crystal clear blue water...

The kids get in a few final moments on the beach...

Say goodbye to the resident monkey...

And of course we had to make sure we captured Daryn's signature pose.....

Final images...

Oh no! Is that the luggage...??

This is a very sad picture indeed...

One last pic in paradiso...

Say goodbye to our gracious hosts...

We hope to see you again one day soon...

Now back to Singapura...

A full set of pics can be found HERE

Adios

wfc

Cubadak Paradiso Village - Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T17:00:00.017+08:00

We awoke to some local fisherman yelling something in Bahasa 50 meters off our deck...I think they were saying " get your lazy butts up..!! "

It was Mother's Day and the girls had made some gifts and cards for Kristy in Singapore and packed them in the luggage....

I had arranged with the resort to have some local flowers at the breakfast table....

After breakfast, I took another look around the beautiful resort...

The water was so clear it was like looking into an aquarium...

I spotted the sailboat and decided to take it out since the wind had kicked up a bit.

Natalie and Loic came along...

Meanwhile Amanda was being helpful back at the pier....

Then she became just plain silly....

We had some REALLY good seafood while we were there - and this red snapper was definitely one of the highlights...

I had to take a picture of this French wine that we enjoyed which was named Beau Rivage. However, it's apparently not affiliated with the casino...

And so ends another spectacular day in paradiso...

A full set of pics can be found HERE

Adios

wfc

Cubadak Paradiso Village - Day 3

2009-05-09T17:00:00.021+08:00

Today we took an all day excursion to another island....

Our skipper and dive master...

The first mate...

I actually went SCUBA diving for the first time in 19 years on this trip. However, this picture I took of the scuba gear is the only thing I have to remind me....The dive was awesome and I hope to continue diving on our future trips...

Just look at that water!!! Unbelievable...

After a short boat ride we arrived at another pristine beach where we would spend a lazy day...

We did our dive right off of this beautiful beach...

This was our home base for the day....

The dogs were happy when we finished eating since they ate the leftovers..!!

This little guy needed some help....

Kristy finally got her wish - to be on a deserted island with nothing to do but read a book.....mission accomplished.

This is why we came...

Contemplating the duty free Gin back at the resort.......

A full set of pics can be found HERE

Adios

wfc

Cubadak Paradiso Village - Day 2

2009-05-08T17:00:00.017+08:00

I awoke to an awesome sunrise. So I took a few pics and went right back to sleep. It was too early to get up. We were on "Island Time" now....

We eventually got up. Kristy and I stayed in the hut-over-the-water which was some distance away from the common area....

The girls were already up and playing in the sand...

This is where the girls stayed with Emily....NO AIRCON!!

Time for some swimming off the end of the pier.....

Here's a look around the resort.....

Before we knew it, it was time for lunch. This is the common area where everyone gathered at mealtime....

Blue sky's and palm trees. This is what we came for...

The path back to our hut-over-the-water

Very picturesque...

In the afternoon Carey and I decided to take the canoe out and explore a bit...

The water was truly amazing...

Another great day in paradiso...

A full set of pics can be found HERE

Adios

wfc

Cubadak Paradiso Village - Day 1

2009-05-07T17:00:00.023+08:00

Back in March of this year Kristy traveled almost the entire month (16 of 22 working days) and when she came back she said:

"I just want to go lay on a deserted beach and do nothing more than read a book..."

So I started searching for an appropriate getaway. We had already been to so many of the typical places so I focused on finding something a little different, something that was not so well know. Boy did we find it..!! We started our journey by flying to Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia. From there, our taxi drove us south along the coast for 2 1/2 hours. Upon reaching the jetty, we transferred our bags into the boat that was waiting for us. 15 minutes later we arrived in paradiso.....

Water taxi...

The locals were excited to see us...

Emily was looking forward to a few days of not having to cook!!

Our skipper...

This was the first glimpse of the island...

Our wonderful hosts were there to greet us at the dock the minute we arrived.

We had some friends of ours living in Singapore come along with us on this trip..

The girls went straight to the beach and started playing in the sand. First order of business - Sand Mermaid!!

Next came jumping off the pier into the shallow water....

Towards the end of the day and after a lengthy happy hour, the adults went for a little swim to cool off and at some point, swim suits started getting thrown up onto the pier. I guess it's bound to happen when you're on a deserted island...

This taken just before the sun went down while swimming in the water, camera in hand. I think we are going to like it here...

A full set of pics can be found HERE

Adios

wfc

Easter 2009

2009-04-12T17:00:00.002+08:00

The Easter Bunny came by the other day....

As is tradition, Kristy made resurrection cookies with the girls which is a neat little way to get the girls involved in an activity while teaching them the TRUE meaning of Easter.

Adios

wfc

East Coast Park Again...

2009-03-28T17:00:00.000+08:00

We decided to hit East Coast Park again since the weather was nice today...

It has been a while since we had taken the girls bike riding along the beach.

It wouldn't be a normal Saturday in Singapore if the girls didn't have Subway for lunch.

We stopped by the lake where they water ski on cables for a rest.....

And some refreshement. This particular variety of coconut is the one which is not so sweet.

This is the sweet one....

Something is missing here..?? Hmmmmmmmmm....... Rum anyone?

They usually have some sort of impressive sand castle on the beach...

The water was actually looking very good today (for Singapore....)

There are many many cool places to camp out along the beach....

All-in-all we had a wonderful day.

Adios

wfc

It is finshed...

2009-03-08T21:13:00.005+08:00

Well - I'm happy to say that I have finally finished the NZ daily posts. This picture was taken in Auckland the night before we flew back to Singapore. We were having dinner down at the waterfront area. I was so tired and so worn out - but I was so happy that I had pulled off the trip of a lifetime. It was a relief and a sense of accomplishment.

Likewise - I am glad to have finally finished the BLOG part of the trip. I'm not sure which was more tiring - the trip itself - or the BLOG!! Oh well - they were both worth it. What an amazing trip.....

Adios

wfc

Finally!!.......but only 1/2 way thru

2009-01-26T08:00:00.010+08:00

UPDATE: I have finished 1/2 of the daily posts now.

Well - I finally sifted thru all the pics and narrowed it down to an official set for the trip. I still intend to do a page for each day of the trip as an official record on the blog - but due to an overwhelming number of requests for pics I decided to go ahead an post them here. I have grouped them this way:

Days 1 thru 4

Days 5 thru 9

Days 10 thru 14

Days 15 thru 19

Franz Josef Glacier and Mt Cook

Adios

wfc

Back in Sing........

2009-01-08T19:00:00.006+08:00

Well - we are back. Finally!! This was such a long and wonderful trip for us. 3 weeks is quite a long time to be away and I took approx 5,000 pictures over the course of the trip. As you might imagine - it will take time to go thru all the photos properly.

Keep checking back in on the BLOG - I will post each day as I get around to it. I am also planning on doing some Kodak Gallery posts since there are so many photos.

Adios

wfc

North Island, NZ - Day 19

2009-01-07T17:00:00.010+08:00

Today was our last full day in New Zealand. We were tired. We were wiped out. But we have had the most wonderful trip of our lives. The girls have been real troopers and they have had to put up with alot of driving. But I think they have had a great experience too.....

So we headed back to Auckland. On the way we realized that we could take a slight detour and go thru Te Awamutu - hometown of the Finn Brothers of Crowded House and Split Enz fame which is Kristy's favorite band of all time!!! So of course we had to go.

There was even a wing in the local museum dedicated to them!!!

I was kinda making fun of Kristy becuase I never really liked the band myself....HA!!

Pictures from days 15 thru 19 are HERE

Adios

wfc

North Island, NZ - Day 18

2009-01-06T17:00:00.016+08:00

Today we went Jet Boating!! We meant to do this in the SI but it never worked out. Good thing - since this trip was soooooooo awesome.

Another white-knuckle ride for Kristy...

Part of the Jet Boat ride was a stop-off at a very cool GeoThermal area....

Back in town we tried to figure out our next move.....

So we decided on to go ZORB !!

STEP 1: Get into a big ball and fill it with some water

STEP 2: Roll down a big hill

Only Darn, Natalie and I went downt he hill. Kristy chickened out and poor Amanda was too young....

We didn't come prepared so we all went down and got our clothes soaked - but who cares - right?

Amanda always enjoys screening the pictures at the end of the day....

Pictures from days 15 thru 19 are HERE

Adios

wfc

Fly To North Island, NZ - Day 17

2009-01-05T17:00:00.016+08:00

Today we did alot. We flew to Auckland on the North Island. Rented a van (NO MORE CAMPER!!! WHOO HOO!!) and drove down to Rotorua.

Along the way we stopped in Matamata and visited the original set of "The Shire" of the Lord Of The Rings movie. It was an excellent tour.

Bilbo Baggins home....."Bag End"

At the end of the tour they also held a sheep shearing demonstration.....

Now these next set of pictures were with the animals that were on the farm where we stayed. We booked a "farm stay" where you basically live on a working sheep farm. The girls loved it. They woke up each morning and fed the sheep and the chickens and even a goat.

Rabbits..!!

New Zealand is paradise. Perhaps we should stay?

Pictures from days 15 thru 19 are HERE

Adios

wfc

South Island, NZ - Day 16

2009-01-04T17:00:00.010+08:00

We awoke with hungry ducks right outside our camper....

Next we set out to explore Christchurch a little bit...

We went "punting" on the river.....

It was a beautiful day. Tomorrow we fly to the North Island.

Pictures from days 15 thru 19 are HERE

Adios

wfc

South Island, NZ - Day 15

2009-01-03T17:00:00.018+08:00

Today we awoke to blue skies and a beutifuly calm lake. Lake Tekapo is know to be one of the prettiest lakes in all of NZ. I'm happy the weather cleared up and we were able to see it before we left.

Amand and I went for a walk in the morning and we found these people water-skiing on the lake which was smooth as glass.......

One of the attactions here is the Church of the Good Shepherd and Kristy wanted to definitely take pictures here...

Well - needless to say we were getting a little bit tired of being in the camper...

So we were all excited about heading back to Christchurch and turning this sucker in!!

Upon arriving back in Chistchurch - we decided to hit the The International Antarctic Centre

They had a "cold room" which simulated a freezing storm and the temp got down to below freezing!!!

Kristy chickened out and stayed in the "shelter" area.....

They had a really fun ride on a Hagglund simulator.....which took us on an offroad course.

This is what was happening on the inside during the ride!!

Once we finally arrived at the campsite at Christchurch - the girls were happy to learn that they had an indoor heated swiming pool with a slide. They were able to blow off alot of steam......

Pictures from days 15 thru 19 are HERE

Adios

wfc