Dunedin, sheep, etc.

In the words of my sister-in-law: comments, people. Comments are a very nice thing on a blog. So get typing and make your voice heard, even if it is to say "wow, a slab of cow thigh bone. Awesome."

In order to inspire discussion, we could make up our own captions to this picture. It's my friend's cat on a very hot day in Berlin:

Now that bit of entertainment is over, let's catch up on my trip photos. Here's a yellow-eyed penguin nesting an egg. It was super cute- penguins come together every year to mate, usually with the same partner. One sits with the egg while the other goes off to get food, then returns and they switch places. That's a 50/50 partnership at its best. Since they're sitting there for 24 hours with the egg, this is one of those moments when he was coming out "to stretch his legs for a bit."

This is me with a hot jacket and sexy hair. If only I had thought to turn my head a little, it would have looked like I was kissing this seal. He's the gray blob that blends in very nicely with the rock.

This is just a view from the ferry. I thought it was a very romantic picture, so I took a bunch, hoping to blow one up and frame it.

Okay, now the sheep... I'm sure I've mentioned before that there are many- nay millions of sheep in New Zealand. About 45 million, which outnumbers humans about 11 to one. I couldn't take my eyes off of them as we drove through the countrysides, and I wished I had more pictures to demonstrate just how many there are. Roaming grassy fields, climbing up mountainsides. Fluffy sheep, shorn sheep. Grown up sheep, baby sheep (lambs?). Running sheep, sleeping sheep, and mostly eating sheep. It's nonstop grazing for those little guys.

Finally on our train trip to Middlemarch, the sheep farming town of 250, I got close enough to some to take pictures. Sort of. They're not very bright creatures, working mostly off instinct, so as soon as I got near, they ran. Fast. So essentially I think the thought process going on here was:

"Munch, munch, munch. Burp." It's all butt shots, except for the one little guy on the right who's all like "Huh?"

I think it was that guy who was the first to shout "RUN!"

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"

"Whatever you do, DON'T LOOK UP!"

Thankfully, even Limpy McLimpins and his trusty lamb managed to escape.

Once we left them alone, I'm sure they promptly forgot that there was any problem and wandered back to the section where we found them.