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| A huge ship in Auckland's harbor, which we later saw out watching the Vitton competitions |
| Erin's Journal 01-04-03 New Zealand Today we were to get our rental car, then move on southward. We weren't sleeping well anyway, due to the lack of air circulation in the small enclosed dorm room, so when our watch alarms went off at about 20 past 8, I was (surprisingly) the first one up. I jumped in the shower and got ready, which impressed Glenn quite a bit. I was ready to go ahead of time! By 20 to 10, we were downstairs checking out, and our rental car representative showed up promptly at 10 to give us our car. It was a nice little compact, with power steering (the one thing we wish for more than anything else in our own car), and we managed to find our way out of town without too many missed turns. Maps are never totally correct, and our newly-purchased road guide of NZ was no exception! But soon we were heading south, then hooking up with the 2, towards Taurunga. We stopped somewhere in the middle for brunch and to get our bearings, and during this stop did a little forward thinking. We figured out that we wouldn't have a chance to explore both islands in our 3-week time period without seriously wearing ourselves out. And both of us are already tired...especially me... So we mutually agreed to stay in the north island only, and save the experience of the south island for another trip. Add another destination to the ones we must come back to! We then continued on, both of us feeling relief at the lesser burden now that we didn't have to rush everywhere and move on each night. We arrived in Taurunga around 2pm, and were again shocked by how booked out things were. We stopped into information in town, and the lady didn't seem optimistic that we'd find much without either paying the big bucks ('oh, you're Amerrrricans, you can afforrrd it!'), or going on to the next small town in hopes of finding something out of the way. We settled in the middle. We found a place toward the outskirts of town with a nice room, although it was somewhat more than we wanted to pay. But after a stop in the grocery store, we were set for the next couple of days, and went out to enjoy the pool. We were careful to lube up with sunscreen, and traipsed across the way to the pool, anticipating our first swim in a while. The pool was cold, but the sun was hot, so we sat down to read for a little while, knowing we'd soon be hot enough to appreciate the water. Well, as has happened on each occasion when we were near the beach or pool, the clouds quickly came in and made a warm day into a brisk one. We hung on for a few hours, waiting for the heat to return, but eventually gave up. I went in first, to start the dinner and see what was on the tv (yes, we had one!). We made a pretty good dinner, while watching some bad movie, then cuddled up on the spare bed to watch another. Finally around 10:30, I pulled out the pda while Glenn cleaned up after dinner, and got to work catching up on a few days of journals. We still have to plan tomorrow, but at least we aren't in a rush any more! |