Photo Jam 5

I am LONG overdue for a post of some pictures. Also, I have a back-log of pictures that I've been meaning to put up. So... another photo jam post!

For New Years Eve, I went to Sydney, Australia and camped out all day in front of the Opera House to get a good spot for the fireworks. It was great. Umbrella? Check. Picnic blanket? Check. And, to top it all off, an extremely smart friend of mine remembered to freeze some grapes to help us stave off the hot (summer, in the southern hemisphere) sun.

Sydney's Taronga zoo was really sweet. They've got Platypi, Koalas, Giraffes, and this Komodo Dragon. (Which was about 6-feet long!)

More from the zoo. This time a bit more traditionally "outback." This is a Wallaby (perhaps it's name is "Rocko"). It's cute. I've heard it said that everything in Australia either hops or is deadly poisonous. This would be the former.

Creative picnic food idea: Put Nutella on your pikelets. (For the uninitiated, pikelets are miniature, sweetened versions of pancakes. They is good.)

While at the Opera House, we saw what was, apparently, Colonel Sanders having a stroll on the balcony. I'd like to think that he was invited to the New Years gala, but then couldn't help himself and walked out to survey the Sydney skyline and fantasize about where all his new KFCs were going to go. "I'll put one there...and there..."

The famous Harbor Bridge. The New Years Eve fireworks were launched from it. Spectacular. According to news reports the next day, it was the largest NYE celebration on earth, attracting 1.5 Million people. :)

The is the shoreline of Kaikoura, a famous fishing community in New Zealand's South Island. Gorgeous. Also, I've heard that the crayfish here is excellent.

A while back, I traveled the upper portion of the South Island by getting a really sweet deal on a camper van from a company here called "Spaceships." This was the vessel of travel they offered: "Cassiopeia." View it in all it's bright-orange, mommy-mobile majesty!

Somewhere in Hamilton, New Zealand, at this ordinary-seeming mall, a young Nebraskan man is making his first ever balloon animal: a blue puppy dog. Yeah, I'm very proud of myself. I had very good instruction, however, so I shouldn't be surprised. After this photo was shot, we started offering our "balloon creations" free to the general public. Parents were leery, but children were happy.

Okay, so this one is from WAY back in late August, but I just had to show you all the gigantic replica carrot, put up in beautiful Ohakune (near Mt. Ruapehu), which is basically just a ski village, so the carrot does tend to stand out. Take that, Carhenge!