Jet Lag a Go Go

It's 5:30 p.m. here, but to my body it's 1:30 a.m. and I've been on the move for 36 hours. I had hoped to stay up until at least 9:00, but I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open. 

I got in to the city at 8:10 in the a.m. and by 11:00 I was at the hostel.  It's really nice and the owner upgraded me from a dorm room to a single room at no extra charge since it's my first night here.  How nice is that?  I even have my own TV!

I spent most of the day aimlessly wandering the streets of Auckland, occasionally stopping at some of the many second hand shops, popping in to small art galleries or gratefully guzzling a coffee (a flat white, if you please). 

Flat white?  Don't mind if I do

Where I had my coffee

It was glorious.  The weather was really incredible -- blue skies and mild temperatures in the mid to high teens (celcius).  When I was here in mid September of 2004, it was snowing and miserable, and I was preparing myself for that, so I'm really pleased it's so nice.

Victia Park in very early spring

During my meandering today I was mentally composing clever passages about a miriad of subjects to write about, but I can barely put together a simple sentence at this point.  It'll have to wait.  Hopefully I won't forget everything.

OK, well, I know I'll likely be awake by 3:00 a.m. but I can't fight it anymore.  I'm going to eat my store-bought sushi, drink my Weka beer, and take advantage of what's very likely to be my last night in a private room for quite some time.