April 9, 2008

• Finally made my onward plans from Auckland. I've got today (Thursday) here, then I leave Friday morning for the Bay of Islands. I'll be visiting an outfit that does overnight boat tours of the bay to see about signing on with them for a bit; they're moving out of high season now, so they may not need me, but I'll at least get a free tour out of it, which I'm excited about. If they don't need a hand, I'll find something else in the area; I really want to stay in Paihia for a few weeks.

  I also booked a backpaker hop-on, hop-off bus trip for the rest of the North Island, so I've got a way to get around. I don't know that I want to spend a lot of time anywhere else on the North Island other than Wellington, but we'll see how it goes.

  I'm surprised by how much I'm liking Auckland. I've always kind of poo-poo'ed it as a big city, but now that I've been here for a while, I'm enjoying the place. They have a lot of parkland, plus it's right on the water. I've been heading out to a couple of the islands in the harbor, and they've been fab. (Punky, I think I found Auckland's answer to Walnut Creek - it's called Devonport, and I caught the ferry over there yesterday for a ramble. If I remembered your phone number off the top of my head, you would have gotten a quick phone call.)

  Oh, and as a quick girlie-note, there are a lot of really cute guys here. Tall, too.

  After today, it may be a few days before I can hop online again. So take care, everyone!

  • 5:37 pm
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