Gobble Gobble

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast last night!!  Pot-luck style at Jen's house.  Wayne got me a turkey through his work...he thought it was huge and I said it's the smallest turkey I've ever cooked at 10lbs.  But there was plenty and I also made pistachio salad.  And we had all the typical fare:  homemade bread, salad, green bean casserole, candied yams, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie and even rhubarb cake!  I hadn't had turkey in over 1.5 years and it was everything I imagined I missed!!  YUM!

Videos from traveling with Kristi

McLean Falls in the Catlins


Kea at the Kiwi Birdlife Park in Queenstown


Fur seal colony at the entrance to Doubtful Sound from the Tasman


360 around Doubtful Sound

Water activities...

Wow! What a couple of wonderful, fun-filled weeks with Kristi! This past week we went white water rafting on the Shotover river by Queenstown. BTW, I will do my best to NEVER stay in Queenstown again...at least not at the cheap backpackers unless I'm ready to party hard! Too many young partiers for me...god, I'm getting old. It was hilariously horrible. And since we had to rise at 6:30 am for the rafting, we did not get much sleep! It had rained a lot the previous day, so the rapids were rated 4+! And it was great...I'm ready to go again! Then off to Te Anau, where we went to the glow worm caves and spent the night at a great lodge/backpackers (same place Leah and I had stayed). Then we drove to Manapouri,  and what a fabulous 24 hours! We took a boat across Lake Manapouri and then got on a bus to take us down to the sound. We got on a bus of 27 other Americans, all Master Gardeners, most from Arkansas. They were great! So enthusiastic and they pretty much adopted us as part of their group and called us their MN Girls. It felt good to here all those American voices, especially that southern drawl. The ship, crew, food, accomodation, scenery, wildlife, people were incredible! This was by far the best thing I've done in NZ to date! We got settled in, then went kayaking and even jumped in the sound for a quick dip. Kristi stayed in as long as possible...me - well, I jumped in, swam around to the ladder and got out...that was enough! Then hot soup and out on the deck to take pictures and out to the Tasman sea where we saw lots of Fiordland-crested penguins, fur seals, a few dolpins and lots of sea birds! We were much colder during this time than when we were swimming! But we stayed out on the deck so not to miss any of the amazing wildlife! Dinner was incredible! Afterwards our charismatic nature guide gave a slide show presentation, and then off to bed so we could rise early! I was up before the engine revved up. Again out on deck so not to miss anything...more penguins the second day, even a few blue penguins. It's was a rare sunny day in Doubtful. I'll post photos as soon as I can! I took Kristi to the airport yesterday...so sad! I'm still recuperating, unpacking, washing clothes and linens. I should be getting to work, but the day is beautiful!

Holiday!

I'm having a fabulous time with Kristi. This last week we spent in the Catlins...hiking to waterfalls and walking many beaches. The weather was beautiful! Then we headed to central Otago, went to a bird sanctuary and saw kiwis! And stayed in Wanaka. We woke up to lots of snow all over southern NZ! The pass to Mt Cook was closed so we drove through central, stopped at one of my fav vineyards (Black Ridge), went to St Bathans and Blue Lake and to Moeraki Boulders. We mostly cooked at our backpackers or fixed lunch on the road, but we did have to fabulous seafood dinners! Today I had a symposium and gave a talk on my master's research. Tomorrow we were supposed to go cod fishing but it has been cancelled due to sea conditions...sooooooooo disappointing! Instead we are collecting fish for my research and going to Sand Fly bay to watch the penguins come in in the evening. Then we plan to head off again on Sunday...hopefully for Doubtful Sound for a couple of days.