1. Exceptionally
rare weather. We got up at 6:30am so we
could get a good front-of-the-boat spot for our trip thru the Sounds
of New Zealand Fjordland National Park.
The onboard Naturalist who narrated as we sailed said this day was 1 of
probably only 2 good weather days during this season – the rest of the time
it’s overcast and rainy, so we were SO LUCKY!
2. The
Shock and Awe Buffet. We chose a very
very wrong time to commit to better eating. We came upon the MOST BEAUTIFUL
food display today for brunch than either of us have ever seen in our
lives. The pictures won’t do it
justice. It was pure shock and awe meant
to break our will and succumb to their out of this world food offerings, which
included bananas foster, fondue white and chocolate fruit dipping, and frozen
chocolate covered ice-cream balls; that was hardly a beginning of just the
sweets… the food included everything you could possibly dream of, housed in
breathtaking ice sculptures and life-sized edible gingerbread house toasters.
3. Penguins,
sea lions, hundreds of dolphins all at once, and albatross. All the
animals we saw today as we went through the most gorgeous
something-you’d-see-in-a-movie scenery… the sea was alive, and we felt humbled
to watch all this wildlife around us. Including all the things we couldn’t see
under the water that didn’t show their faces or tails. Daron wants me to add here that his favorite
thing he saw was a Balrog. He just wants to see if anyone’s reading this.
4. Kangaroo
horror story. As we all stood on deck
admiring the beautiful sounds, we met sweet Kris (and her hubby Doug
who was just diagnosed with liver cancer, so they planned this last fling trip
– their story brought tears to my eyes) who told us about how their 4 acres
back home in Australia are overrun by rabbits and kangaroos who eat her garden
foods. One day she went out to pick some
carob from her tree and she heard a grunt behind her, and next thing she knew,
an adult female kangaroo AS TALL AS HER, with her joey in her pouch, jumped on
her back and attacked her. She got it off and ran as fast as she could (this
happened 2 years ago, when she was 70) and she tripped, then tried to get up
quickly, when the kangaroo reared up on her tail and with her raptor-like
middle toe claw, scraped her entire back leg from thigh to foot. She barely got
away to her house when her hubby saw the commotion, opened the door for her,
and the kangaroo left. Unreal.
5. Kuthrapali. We have onboard a Big Bang Theory
Kuthrapali-lookalike and his Indian bride.
We have taken to calling him Kuthrapoopi, after our last excursion which
we were all on together. After taking
our seats on the bus and starting the tour with the other 25 guests, we made
our first stop, then everyone got back on the bus IN THEIR SAME SEATS – duh –
except for Kuthrapoopi and his bride. They had weaseled their little booties
into our seats. Everyone’s looking at them,
and when we get on the bus and see them in our seats, we just looked at them
and Daron said – I believe these were our seats – and Kuth and his huzzy just
looked at us – then Daron said – well, where were you sitting? So we can sit
there since you’re sitting where we were, and we need to sit in your seats now
– so he said – ‘oh we were in de back and you kahnt hear anyting back dere, so
dat’s why we’re here now.’ Wow. I said – oh let me grab my things then (I’d left my
waterbottle in the pouch on the seat) and huzzy just watched me. At the next stop, a nice older man came up to
us and said, I can’t believe they didn’t give you your seats back. That wasn’t
fair – you should get those back. We
were so wronged. Now when we see Kuth
onboard we give them a friendly glare… 8-)
6. The
One year mark. I say with sadness that today, March 10th, is exactly one year to the day that our family permanently
returned from Switzerland. Steebie and
Kas had already come home with Aunt Kas and Uncle Sterl on the 4th, but today
Daron and I arrived with little Kenny-Boo, and our European adventure
officially came to a close. Today brought tears as we reminisced on this – it will
always be such a wonderful time in our lives, and we’re so glad we got to share
it with all of you who got to visit… and those of you who didn’t, via email ,
skype and phone. 8-)
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