A fun week!

First, a picture of the nearly full moon rising from a week ago.


On Monday, Terri came to visit me. She had an interview Tuesday morning (fingers crossed!). Tuesday night, she and her friend Angie joined Tara and me at trivia.


Thursday night, Terri, Angie, and I went to the Nuggets-Celtics game. Before the game, we compared our wingspans to that of Chris Andersen:



Here we are sitting in the stands:


And here is Chris Andersen at the free throw line:


It was an exciting game. The "new look" Nuggets beat the Celtics!

Friday, I went out to a birthday lunch with my coworkers. Terri was able to join me before heading off to the airport.

Saturday, I went for coffee in downtown Louisville with Sara and Rich. I took pictures of wildlife on my walk home:



Saturday evening, I went over to Harald's for Wurstfest, where we ground, stuffed, then grilled our own sausages. It also served as a birthday party, for which Tara made a delicious cake (chocolate stout cake with cream cheese frosting and chocolate/peanut butter ganache drizzle). I took home the leftover cake, and had a piece (OK, two) tonight!

Christchurch

Unfortunately, Christchurch was hit again by an earthquake. Compare my picture of the cathedral here, or this picture,


with one from New Zealand TV3's website:

Back in Colorado

The temperature difference between Sydney and Denver was about 100 degrees! It was a little hard at first getting used to winter again.

My first trivia was last Tuesday, when Cora, Trevor, and I formed a skeleton crew that managed to place third (thanks in large part to Trevor's knowledge of Nu Metal).


Yesterday, I went skiing for the first time this season. I didn't bring my camera, but Rich did, so maybe I can borrow some of his pictures. Unfortunately, our day ended a little early when Sara hurt her knee. She should get the results of her MRI tomorrow. I'm hoping it's nothing serious!

UPDATE: Unfortunately, the first doctor Sara went to said she has a torn ACL.

Highlights From Terri's Camera

A kiwi in Franz Joseph:


Great white herons:


A flying spoonbill:


My Dad took this picture of Terri and me luging in Queenstown:


The yellow-eyed penguin at Curio Bay:


Close-up:


The family at the Florence Hill lookout:


Yellow-eyed penguins swimming ashore at Roaring Bay:


The baby blue penguin at Pilot Beach:


The family along the Tunnel Beach walk (it was windy that day!):


And finally, an albatross:


Thanks Terri!

The Trip Home

Now for some pictures I took out of airplane windows.

I liked this river delta, somewhere near Arthur's Pass in New Zealand:


Our approach into Sydney:


The sunset on my trip to L.A.:


The Hollywood sign:


I think this is near Bryce Canyon, in southern Utah:


I'll research it more once I'm home (I'm at a coffee shop right now) with a faster internet connection.

Akaroa, New Zealand

We drove up the east coast from Dunedin, and stopped along the way to see the Moeraki Boulders, some unusual, spherical boulders along the beach.



Then we drove to Akaroa, a former French colony east of Christchurch. Apparently the English started a colony only a year or two before this town was settled, otherwise New Zealand would have been a French territory.

We took the Summit Road for some views. I liked this peninsula in Akaroa Harbour.


On our way to Christchurch the next morning, my Mom was lamenting the fact that we still hadn't taken a picture of a black sheep in the fields with other sheep. Fifteen minutes later, we came across this flock full of black sheep!


My favorite animal in the flock was this piebald sheep:


By the time I took this last picture, all the sheep were running away from our car.