All Business

Well, I may have finally gotten down to the last of the 'sorting out my business' end of things here (famous last words). I was hoping to leave Auckland today, but as luck would have it I could not confirm a place up north to stay in time and had to spend another day here. This was not a bad thing in the end, as I still had some things to figure out, book, plan, etc. I have not relaxed one minute yet. It's been quite tiring. I look very much forward to some R&R this weekend. So tomorrow is a non-computer day. I need a break from the screen and the bookings and the....
the list could go on.

I'm not sure I've given Auckland it's fair shake, as my time here has been consumed by matters that aren't really of a tourist nature. The only real thing I've done as a tourist was the Sky Tower. I have been around the city a little bit though. I got to travel across the Harbour Bridge yesterday to the suburbs to have dinner with Kiwi-Mike's parents. That was super!! We had a great dinner, their house is totally, amazingly cool, and they took me down to the beach near their place for a walk. The kids were out after school for their surf and sailing lessons. No, no hockey after school in the City of Sails. ;)

I left the B&B today to stay at more affordable accommodations. The B&B upon my arrival was my splurge. I needed a nice, quiet place to stay and take a load off while I acclimatized to the new circadian rhythm over here. So now I'm at a hostel. It's ok, but not half as nice. I was getting used to the family at the B&B and when I left they said I had become a member of the family. It was a nice place to stay.

I've met several people in similar situations as myself: taking a break from work or looking for a change. It's nice to meet like-minded people (read of my same age range). A lot of the kids down here are from Germany. In fact, I'd say the majority of those at the IEP have come from there. I've met two Canadians now (one sharing my room at the hostel tonight) and a couple Brits and a couple Americans. So I'm off to relax and meet more new people tomorrow. Til then!