[jshepherd]

Any one else going on this trip? It looks like it will be very interesting!

GIA Alumni Travel Program: Tahiti – New Zealand – Australia * Cultured Pearls Tour * August 26 – September 9, 2007
August 26 Travel to Tahiti , hotel check in – Meet & Greet Cocktail Party in the evening
August 27 Breakfast/Lecture with your tour guide, Ms. Akira Hyatt
Group 1 flies to Marutea (13 people). Group 2 visit Musée de la Perle and the Pearl Ministry, then an afternoon free. Lunch/dinner on own

August 28 Breakfast - Group 1 flies back from Marutea & free afternoon. Group 2 free day, local sightseeing - “ Tahiti and her tropical treasures”.

Lunch/Dinner on own
August 29 Breakfast - Group 2 fly to Marutea (13 people). Group 1 visit Musée de la Perle and the Pearl Ministry, then an afternoon free. Lunch/dinner on own

August 30 Breakfast - Group 2 fly back from Marutea & free afternoon. Group 1 has a free day for local sightseeing - “ Tahiti and her tropical treasures”.

Lunch & dinner will be on your own.
We will all join together for a group dinner with our hosts.
August 31 Traveling – BE AT AIRPORT BY 6 AM for 8:30 am flight - Papeete to Auckland , arriving at noon on September 1st. Overnight flight time. Then,

September 1 Auckland to Christchurch at 4 pm arrive 5:30 pm - Hotel check in – Free evening. Lunch and Dinner on own
September 2 Breakfast/Lecture with your tour guide, Ms. Akira Hyatt
Bus to Wainui & board barge to visit Marine Farm. Then group lunch, before heading to Akaroa Harbor to visit Blue Pearl Centre. Dinner on own

September 3 Breakfast - Bus to Lansdowne Valley to visit Blue Pearl Processing Plant, then back to the city for lunch (on own) and visit the Sales Office and the Blue Pearl Gallery.

We will all join together for a group dinner with our hosts.
September 4 Breakfast – We have a leisurely morning before we are off to the airport at noon for our flights to Darwin . Flight time 2:35 p.m. arriving in Darwin 11:30 p.m.

September 5 Breakfast/Lecture with your tour guide, Ms. Akira Hyatt
Official welcome and overview of visit by Paspaley.
Lunch/Dinner on own
September 6 Breakfast - Group 1 Day trip to Pearl Harvesting by seaplane (9). Group 2 & 3 to visit the Pearl room, museum, store and shipyard. Dinner on own

September 7 Breakfast - Group 2 Day trip to Pearl Harvesting by seaplane (9). Group 1 to visit Pearl room, museum, store and shipyard. Group 3 free day local sightseeing (options will be made available). Dinner on own

September 8 Breakfast - Group 3 Day trip to Pearl Harvesting by seaplane (8). Group 1 & 2 free day for local sightseeing (options will be made available).
We will all join together for a group dinner this evening hosted by Paspaley. A pearl meat tasting will be available.

NOTE: The flight out of Darwin to Sydney is at 1:40 AM. Guests have the choice of leaving Saturday evening at 10:30 p.m. for the airport (straight from dinner) or stay another full day in Darwin and leave the evening of the 9th.

September 9 Breakfast - Final visit to store for gift shopping. Gift to each guest of MOP shell. Free day and evening before departing for the airport (10:30 pm) for the flight home. Lunch & dinner on own

[pattye]

Is it a requirement to be a GIA alumni to go??

Pattye

[jshepherd]

I believe so. It would be a strange name otherwise...

[pattye]

I was thinkin' if I wanted to go you could pass me off as your grandmother, or somethin'

Pattye

[jshepherd]

They did ask me today if I would like a roommate. But I told them I did not mind paying a little extra for 9 days!

[GemGeek]

I missed this thread when I was only lurking.

I can't wait to go. One more week!

We are going to fly to one of Robert Wan's private atolls, Marutea, 1,000 miles from Papeete, Tahiti and overnight there. You can see it here: http://www.oceandots.com/pacific/tua...arutea-sud.htm

We also visit Eyris Blue Pearls in Southern New Zealand. I found this great 2004 article by visiting Pala's site: http://www.australiangemmologist.com...one_pearls.pdf

Last, we go to Paspaley in Darwin, Australia - home of the luscious white South Sea Pearl.

Packing has been tough because we have to carry our own bags, plus the temp in NZ is 45 degrees cooler than Tahiti and Australia.

Next year they are going to Japan and China on part two. I hear they are in negotiations to add the Philippines. Heck, why not add Indonesia and complete the set? I might as well spend my entire retirement account while I'm at it.

I guess it's worth it, because I am a pearl-obsessed gem geek
Blaire

[Casey.R]

Sounds fun. Please take lots of photos!

[salem]

Originally Posted by GemGeek

Next year they are going to Japan and China on part two. I hear they are in negotiations to add the Philippines. Heck, why not add Indonesia and complete the set? I might as well spend my entire retirement account while I'm at it.

I guess it's worth it, because I am a pearl-obsessed gem geek
Blaire

Well, if people come to Japan, let me know. MAybe we can hold a Pearl-Guide party while you are here.

[knotty panda]

Any chance of anyone visiting Mr. Humbert?

[GemGeek]

Don't worry, I LOVE taking pictures and I would be happy to share them. It's too bad we can't have a Pearl-Guide trip!

Back in the dark ages, I took Japanese in college. My brother did, too. We both worked at Disneyland, so we used it to talk to visitors. My dad had to out-do us, he became fluent, including reading. Not just Katakana and Hiragana, but full-on Kanji (sp? brush stroke characters). He then worked in Tokyo for two years. He said everyone wanted to practice their english on him, so he didn't get to speak a lot, but he was treated to many nights on the town by enthusiastic english-speakers.

Salem, what part of Japan do you live in?

Cheers,
Blaire

[GemGeek]

Originally Posted by knotty panda

Any chance of anyone visiting Mr. Humbert?

He's in the neighborhood of Marutea on Ahe atoll: http://www.oceandots.com/pacific/tuamotu/ahe.htm

Cheers,
Blaire

[salem]

Hi Blaire,

I live in Nagano-ken, which is on Honshu island. The city I live in is called Matsumoto, maybe if you google it you can see some English websites now. It is a beautiful area, with wonderful mountains. But not a pearl region at all. But I could always go to meet people in Kobe, Tokyo, anywhere here on the main island.

He could read kanji, huh? Pretty impressive. Everytime I stop studying, I lose all my kanji ability first. Your father must have had a talent for languages.


Jen

[GemGeek]

Of course, I went off on a google-storm to find out everything about Nagano-Ken. It's beautiful

While I have ordinary intelligence, my father is a genius. I can thank him for strong conceptual ability, which helps with learning. He was telling us he was too old to learn anything new while he was busy becoming fluent in Japanese. It could be very annoying He said people in Tokyo were always surprised to see him (the American) reading the newspaper because it was in kanji when a lot of adults gave up on kanji and read katakana. Enough on Dad - back to pearls.

Maybe we can have a Pearl-Guide lunch or dinner in Tucson? Is anyone going to Tucson next February? When we find out where and when for Japan, maybe we can do a group dinner. We would have to wear our favorite pearls, of course

Cheers,
Blaire

[jshepherd]

That would be fun. I may be doing a presentation in Tucson, it is up in the air at the moment, but will be decided soon. That would be a good time!
The Pearl-Guide pearl walk!

[Caitlin]

I know of a couple of folks who are coming down. One even asked me to do a pearl walk, but I think it would be even better if Jeremy does a Pearl-Guide walk.

Good luck on the presentation idea. I like it.