Heading home

The flight from Sydney to Auckland to Denver was about 30 hours. There was some layover time in there, but it's a rough day that just won't end. On our way to New Zealand we lost a day. On our way to the US we gained it back. That was one LONG Thursday.

Our dear friends Christine and Rick Zimmerman picked us up in Denver and put us to bed at their house. Connecting with Christine vis Skype was a lifeline to home and friends that we were so fortunate to have. She also mailed me care packages--with running shoes!

We stayed with Zimmermans for the rest of the weekend before moving into the Arvada Station Apartments in Wheat Ridge that we had arranged from New Zealand. The apartment filled a need, and was actually a pretty nice place in the right location. We stayed at the apartment for almost two years. We had decided on Golden, Colorado for our home base and weren't finding the right place to buy (we sold our house on White Ash Drive just as the Colorado home market was skyrocketing. Whoops).

Ruben found a piece of land for sale as he was riding his bike one day that seemed like a good spot. So we bought the land and contracted with Bob Simmering of CPNolan Construction to build the custom home you see here.

Australia!

Yes....the Great Barrier Reef. We went out snorkeling twice. The first day was pretty rough. The second was a lot more calm. Mom wasn't sure she felt comfortable out there in the ocean. It can take a lot of energy to get back to the boat if you've floated away. Ruben was our hero again. He grabbed a swim noodle and toted Mom all around the reef. He did the swimming, she did the looking!

Australia!

A highlight for me was a kangaroo and wallaby refuge.

Australia!

On a rainforest tour we also took a river cruise looking for crocs. We saw several, fortunately from a distance.

Australia!

An amazing part of our New Zealand experience is going to Australia with Mom and Elaine. They look pretty close together on a globe, but there is a lot of ocean between the two countries.

We bid a sad farewell to our friends in Otorohanga (that town treated us very well) and traveled to Auckland for our flight to Sydney. We stayed at the airport hotel, which agreed to store our very large suitcases during our weeks in Australia. It was also pretty great to wake up and basically roll out of bed to catch our flight.

We took a spectacular rainforest hike, went zip lining (yes, we did!). We stayed on the beach in Port Douglas.