A curve ball

Ok, blog followers.  It appears that fate has thrown us a bit of a curve. Returning to Wellington after Kaikoura, we shopped and worked hard on Wellington museums and attractions including a planetarium show on the southern skies in honor of astronomer son-in-law Paul (who recently was part of a Univ. of Texas team which discovered a new planet which may be conducive to life).

Then on Dec. 22, Claire stepped off the curb on our very steep hill and rolled her ankle.  It was very disturbing-looking, broken in multiple places and dislocated.  We spent hours in emergency, and she came out of surgery with a plate, screws and a giant cast at 2:30 a.m. Afterwards, there were a couple of days in hospital  and a veto on flying for a couple of weeks till the blood thinners kick in to reduce the risk of blood clots on the long flight home.  Kind of a nightmare.  So we must re-group. We tried not to let this incident completely ruin our merry-making. Claire would not let me post the picture of her with cast and the hat and other goodies from her Christmas cracker trying to make the best of it (prizes from the crackers included single applications of sunscreen and insect repellent btw).

Thought I'd include one of Paul and Emily and one of Anna on the rock wall though.  We skyped with some friends from home and sang carols with the Aussies, who had family visiting from across the trench and made approximations of some of our usual Christmas fare.

Paul and Emily left yesterday, and Anna headed home this morning.  Summer weather has finally settled in, warm and sunny (till next Thursday at least, when Paul and Ann are due to arrive).   The powhutakawa trees are coming into full bloom.  Here's a picture of a tree and a close-up of one of the blossoms, very pretty.

It appears that Claire and I will be returning home on January 6.  This may be the end of my New Zealand adventure, or maybe not, if all goes well with Claire's recovery.  Time will tell.  I will be sad if this abrupt goodbye is my last sight of Wellington.  But, just for fun, here's a shot of the beach on Christmas Day.  Ah, Christmas in the southern hemisphere!