End of summer...sigh

Yikes, I haven't been on here in a while.  The last part of February was full of bbq's, beaches, roadtripping and fishing.  And lots and lots and lots of fish dissections.  I posted a new album.  I went to Tunnel Beach a few weeks ago.  It's this beach where a tunnel has been carved out of the cliff to get down to the beach.  Had a great picnic there enjoying the view of the southern ocean.  Then I went to Queenstown to meet up with my cousin Gina and her husband Joe.  They had been traveling in Australia and spent a few days in NZ.  Anson and Rebecca went along for the trip.  We stopped at a couple wineries on the way up...Black Ridge (one of my favs...mmmm 2001 Riesling) and Gibbston Valley which also has a cheese factory, where we got some cheese, bread and an olive/feta/sundried tomato mix for lunch.  We also stopped that the first bungee jump ever and watched a couple of crazy folks jump over the river.  Then on to Qtwn, where we had dinner with Gina and Joe.  I was soo happy to be around some chatty people!  The next morning Rebecca, Anson and I went for a short hike by the lake and then headed back to Dunners and the rain.  We stopped at one winery, Wooing Tree where I bought their Beetle Juice Pinot Noir.

The fishing trip the following weekend was great!  Same fisherman, but his jet boat motor blew so we had to take out his catamaran and drive that all the way up the coast to fish around Karitane.  We caught barracuda, trumpeter, blue cod and I caught a red cod.  I took lots of bird videos and photos again...we had 3 Royal albatross around that day!  Since we were on the catamaran and had a long trip back, Alan cooked us up some fish (luxury boat with 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and a full kitchen).  I got to drive and even help jib!  As we got back to the harbor there was a sailing race on and the 2 leaders were just rounding the pin as we entered the mouth of the harbor so we got to sail along side them.

Else I've been crazy busy with dissecting fish in the lab and teaching...I decided to be a demonstrator (TA) this semester.  I'm doing a small amount for a couple of courses and then a regular dem for a 1st yr course of 1750 students!  The labs are close to 100 students.  I'm one of a team of demonstrators!

Oh and we had a lab social and went ten-pin bowling (I'm learning that there are many kinds of bowling).  I sucked!  But we all had a good time.  We are having a bit of an Indian Summer this week.  And I'm helping with fieldtrips the next couple of days so I'll be mucking around with students outside!  Yay!