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| We were on the Mekong River Cruise and tour in July, stopping at a the Kampong Cham temple in Cambodia. |
It was a very good year. Five months during the year, from June 1 to November 1, I was recovering from a spine injury that probably clouded many of our activities.
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| In February for my birthday, me and Miss Jessica, an alpaca cria born under our watch while the farm owners were on holiday. |
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| Out for dinner in February in New Plymouth, New Zealand. |
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| We enjoyed an excellent dinner at this restaurant in February. |
Healed and pain free, that’s all behind us now as we move into the New Year anticipating many more adventures and amazing experiences including the upcoming trip to the US in a mere five months.
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| Out to lunch at a winery in New Zealand in March. |
In addition to this challenging time, during which we still had many memorable experiences, we had many exciting moments in the following locations and on the following cruises:
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| In July, Tom squeezes his way out of a narrow opening after crawling through a tunnel at the site of the Cu Chi Tunnels in Vietnam. He was very brave to do this and the crowd cheered when we made his way out. |
2016 in review…
January: left Fiji for cruise from Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand – 2 weeks
January – April: Alpaca farm vacation home in New Plymouth, New Zealand – 3 months
April – Cruise from Sydney to Singapore – 2 weeks
May – June: Vacation villa in Bali, Indonesia – 2 months
June – July: Boutique hotel in Singapore – 1 week
July: Hotel in Vietnam and then on to Mekong River Cruise and Tour – 3 weeks
July – August: Vacation home in Phuket, Thailand – 6 weeks
September – October: Returned to the villa in Bali – 2 months
October (end) to December (3rd): Cruise circumnavigates the Australian continent – 33-nights
December to present – Vacation home in Penguin, Tasmania where we’ll remain until heading to Huon Valley, Tasmania in mid January – 6 weeks
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| In Bali, lounging at the infinity pool. |
In between all of the above, we spent 32 nights in hotels and took 10 airline flights (not counting layovers). Whew! Writing this here makes us realize how much we’ve moved about during this past year, especially when so much of it occurred during that difficult five month period.
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| We swam in the pool every sunny day in Bali. |
Now, with only 16 days remaining until we depart Penguin, we realize how quickly time flies. We could easily have enjoyed spending three months in Penguin.
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| A visit to the Monkey Temple in Bali in May, wearing the required sarongs. |
No doubt, once we arrive in the Huon Valley after another long and interesting drive on an alternate route from our original drive through Tasmania, surely we’ll be thrilled to experience another part of this amazing state in Australia.
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| On a port day in November during our 33 night cruise, we spent the day in Perth with friends Michelle and Carlo, whom we’d met on a prior cruise. How sweet of them to spend the time with us! |
The world is huge. We’ve only touched the “tip of the iceberg,” speaking of which, in one year and three weeks, we’ll be boarding the cruise to Antarctica. Wow! It’s even hard for us to imagine how much we’ve seen thus far and how much we’ve yet to see in the future.
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| Tom is talking during one of the two seminars we conducted on the 33 night cruise in November. Check out that hand moving with his words! |
As the New Year rolls in tonight at midnight, we hope to be awake to share a kiss and to welcome in this new year of our world travels, of our lives and on this journey which for now, has no end.
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| Me, checking my notes, during one of the two seminars we conducted aboard ship in November. |
Happy New Year to all! May this New Year bring you the fulfillment of your dreams, an abundance of love and affection and enough laughter to rock your world wherever you may be!
Photo from one year ago today, December 31, 2015:
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| In last year’s post we included photos from other New Year’s Eve, including this photo of us on New Year’s Eve including this photo from 2013, in Marloth Park, South Africa at Jabula Lodge where we’ll celebrate my birthday in a little over a year in February in 2018. For more past New Year’s Eve photos, please click here. |