Happy Birthday to Me!

It's my birthday!  Well, it is in New Zealand, where I am.  It's still yesterday where most of  you are.

I'm 25 today.  I don't usually talk about my age because I always seem to be running with a crowd much older or younger than myself, but 25 seems significant.  A quarter of a century!   And I'm in Wellington,  which is pretty exciting.  No Conchord sightings yet.

The trip to Aussieland and NZ has been whizzing by, and I can't believe I'll be in New York on Monday.  We were in Melbourne for almost a week, but it was hard to wrap my head around the fact that I was in Australia as we were kind of constantly on the move. 

We were there for Dr. bf's brother's wedding, which was in Mornington, just south of Melbourne.  The wedding and reception were good, and I busted some awesome moves on the dance floor, earning me the John Travolta Saturday Night Fever Award.  Yes, this was a real thing, and I did win it.  And it wasn't fixed!  A friend of the bride's (no acquaintance of mine) judged the competition, and we didn't even know it was happnening at the time.

We've been in New Zealand for the last week and a half.  The GD and I stayed with his lovely mum in Christchurch for several days before heading off on a brief roadtrip around the South Island.  We went to Dunedin (where he went to university), Te Anau (beutiful lake and trails for hiking), and Milford Sound, which is part of Fiordland (not a typo, just a silly spelling choice) National Park, where we kayaked with a guided group on the sound. 

We also spent a good deal of time with the GD's sister and hubby and their three adorable boys.  Needless to say, his family is awesome and we had a great time.

We got into Wellington two nights ago, and it looks like it's shaping up to be a slightly sunnier day than yesterday, so some exploration into town is in order.  We stayed with friends of Mark just outside the city last night and were treated to delicious (birthday) French toast for breakfast. 

We've done so much in the past two and a half weeks, and I can't possibly cover even a fracture of it in this short post, but I wanted to check in.  One more night here, then it's up to Auckland for two nights, then off to NYC!  I can't believe how quickly it's all gone, but that's the way with vacation.  More detailed accounts of adventures to follow.