The End of Days

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No, NO! not the end of those days.


Saturday the 5th

Taupo to Auckland.

Oh mama, could this really be the end, to be stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis blues again? Dylan

Unfortunately another day of multi hour driving, but the last one. Raining, sometimes very hard. The Ironman competition is in full swing and the cycling course runs right by my motel and through the business district. Great fun to actually see an international event. About 11:00 I head out for Auckland. Nothing much to tell. Arrived in Auckland around 3:30 and only missed one turn, found the street and hotel fairly easily. The Auckland City Hotel is a typical basic type of hotel you might see in NYC but definitely not one of the big chains. Recently completely remodeled and very modern.. It is a few blocks from the “action”. Wandered downtown to Queens Street and found an interesting alley with a number of attractive restaurants. Decided on Queen’s Hotel Pub which had the best fish and chips I have had during my visit.

Sunday 6th

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."
— Douglas Adams (Mostly Harmless)

I turned on the tube this morning and discovered an interesting channel that calls itself PRESS TV. I’ve never seen Al jezera but this looks like a combination of that and the Peoples Leftist Collective Union (what ever that is) I watched a talk show that discussed if George Bush could be arrested for war crimes if he left the US. Actually an interesting theory. The whole slant is very anti-US and western Europe. I’m now watching some guy named Garry Galloway with a very strong Irish accent that is raving on about all these middle eastern dictators and how much we supported them. For "news" they show demonstrations all over the middle east and beyond. They even showed clips of the Wisconsin governor "waging war" against trade unions. I finally heard a newsreader say “Good morning from Tehran” I guess that sez it all. (I later learned this is the official Iranian network www.presstv.ir/)
I decided that today I would take a drive up the east coast to get an idea of what it is like. Turns out it reminded me of a drive from LA up the coast to Santa Barbara. Subtropical climate, winding roads, small towns, flat sandy (but not particularly interesting) beaches. I drove about as far in a couple of hours as I had planned to do in 2 days. Boy would I have been scratching for things to do. I went as far as a place called Mangawhai Heads, not to be confused with the '60's Rock band. Had lunch, checked out the beach and drove back to Auckland. Driving back reminded me of the Sunday nights I used to drive back to KC from the Lake of the Ozarks. Very heavy traffic. Back in Auckland late in the afternoon I caught a little of the end of a performing arts fest, a flamenco (sp?) dancer. Dinner at Father Ted's, an Irish pub. You may have noticed I have eaten at a number of pubs. I guess mostly because they have a warm friendly feeling and pretty good food. This was no exception and even had live music.

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Photos

from the rail trail
I'm leaning on a marker for the highest point on the rail trail

Public toilet
These are really cool. You go in , slide the door shut, hit a button, a voice comes on and says the door is locked and you have 10 min. to do your business. Then music plays. How great is that!