Pictures from previous posting:   Bus: AKL -> Wgtn
  Te Papa
  Wellington City and Sea
  Ferry: Wgtn -> Picton
  Christchurch Bontanic Gardens

First, some little tastes of New Zealand. My favorite TV commercial is for an organic detergent to be used on the exterior surfaces of a house. Their tag line: “It may not work over night, but it DOES work!”. I’m getting more and more fond of traffic circles. They subjectively feel more efficient than traffic lights at intersections. I’d be curious to see some hard data comparing the different systems and how they scale to larger traffic loads. Something we don’t have back in America: three phase traffic lights. Here in NZ they put these in at a small number of super-busy urban intersections. Phase 1: motor traffic flows north/south. Phase 2: motor traffic flows east/west. Phase 3: foot traffic flows in ALL directions, including the two diagonals. Kinda weird, but kinda cool at the same time.

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On the 27th I repeated my bus trip to the vantage point and again watched TDC lose to OneWorld. Rather frustrating. I spent the evening in conversation with a young Swiss man also staying in the hostel. It is interesting talking with people from around the world about their viewpoints. I wrote three postcards that night.

This was only my 2nd Thanksgiving away from home in my life. The last time I was in Monterey, CA and it was very hard. This one was also difficult, but I kept busy enough that I didn’t really stop and think about it almost until bedtime. I took the bus out to the vantage point, but there was a snag. Some dog had left a larger “present” for me right where I had been sitting the day before. I really didn’t want to spend 4 hours sitting next to it. Luckily, a passerby told me about another reserve further down the road. I walked down there and watched the races from there. The view wasn’t as good, but it didn’t smell at all. That evening I had a conversation with the owner of the hostel, a very nice Korean man. He wanted to tell me all about his adult life story of owning sushi restaurants and entrepreneurship. He is actually quite inspirational.

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Two days ago I finally found the perfect vantage point. It is a 30 minute bus ride from Orewa (oh-REE-wa) where I’m staying. The place itself is in the town of Manly on the Whangaparaoa peninsula. If you want to visit me, look for the reserve (aka park) halfway down Tiri Rd, just east of Little Manly Beach.

Yesterday I watched my first races from there and everything worked perfectly. Well, Team Dennis Connor lost to OneWorld, so not everything, but still. I brought my Therm-a-rest inflatable pad and the conversion kit to turn it into a chair. I brought my radio which covers the TV band. I brought my mini 10x25 binoculars. I do wish the binocs were a tad more powerful, but you can’t have everything.

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Took the ferry from Auckland to Waiheke Island. The landing is at a place called Matiatia. Took the bus from Matiatia to the end of the line at Onetangi. The hostel is located up at the top of 184 steps, which is not easy with a full pack. I rested twice on the way up. After I checked in and got my bearings I set off for the grocery to get some staples. I ran across an organic food shop on the way and decided to get things there, since that’s better for the environment and all. I asked for some help from the lady running the place, trying to find some things. I must say, there are two words I now know to avoid when shopping on this trip: gourmet and organic. Man, that was expensive! I walked out a little shocked and wishing I’d had the backbone to walk out when I saw the prices. Feeling a bit down I explored the local neighborhood and found a bakery. I poked my nose in to see if it was worth coming back when I felt richer and the woman behind the counter demands to know what I want and quick as she’s closing. Oh yeah, and whatever I take is free! I took two raspberry buns and eight whole wheat rolls at her insistence. The contrast between the two experiences has really struck me. I walked back giggling to myself the whole way.

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This diary thing has been working out pretty well. Let’s see. I left the bay area on 12 Nov, flying on Southwest from Oakland to LAX. Since I had a total layover of 5 hours, I agreed to meet Mike Polek for dinner. With some trepidation (it’s amazing how much of a lifeline a cell phone can mean now that I don’t have one) I took a bus as directed by Mike to a park-n-ride lot. Mike met me mere minutes later and we went off for Thai food. It was very nice to see him and catch up on life. Mike took me back to LAX and I went through security.

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Well, it’s time to hit the road. I spent my three weeks on the east coast. I spent lots of time with my family. I got to see an old friend. I got to practice with the no-longer-new backpack. Now I’m back in the bay area having made all my final arrangements. Thanks are due to Samuel for throwing me a great going-away birthday party, to Art for the gift of some cool mesh bags with travel goodies inside, to Sandy and Robin for sharing their house and bandwidth with me, and to Eric for taking care of the boat. I probably left someone out, but it’s been very hectic so please don’t hold it against me. My last experience in America will be an early dinner with another old friend from Maryland during my 4.5 hour layover in LA.

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Ah, nothing like a week in the hometown of one’s alma matter. I got to visit and spend time with most of the people who make Maryland a special place for me. Thanks go out to (in no particular order): Barney, Christine, Damian, Gail and Michael, Hymie and Michelle, Janine, Koset, Maria, Mark, and Mark and Carolyn.

While I was down in MD, I finally went to Fort McHenry - it is amazing how onw can live in a town for 10 years and never visit the local historic sites. I also went to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. Pictures are available.

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Well, here I am, safe and sound in NY. I’m staying in my sister’s apartment in Queens. Everyone say: “Hi Andie!”. She loves dragonflies #

if you send me an image of a dragonfly, I’ll pass it on to her.

Well, the adventure begins. I’ve sold a lot of furniture, put the rest of my belongings in storage, and now I’m sitting in an almost empty house. All I’ve got left here is a blue folding card table, a sleeping bag and a vaccuum cleaner. I’ll make one last trip to the storage unit first thing in the morning, then a last trip to the Berkeley Dump with a few bags of trash. Finally, I’ll park the car near Sandy and Robin’s house, drop off the key and call a taxi. Which reminds me, I need to call JetBlue and ask them about the best way to prepare my backpack for baggage check-in.

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Well, another important milestone has been passed. Saturday I went over to Marmot Mountain in Berkeley. I had been there a couple of weeks ago and checked out a few of their backpacks. The one I was most interested in was from Mystery Ranch. But I wasn’t sure if my CD-ROM player would fit in the top detachable part. I brought it with me, and it wasn’t even close. I could fit 10 players in there. So, after some trials and tribulations getting the pack to fit, I bought it. I got the floor model at a 5% dicount because it was the only one they had and they said they might not get a special order delivered before I was planning on leaving. I gotta say, this pack is way cool. First, it is super-adjustable. Second, the design is well thought out - it has good access to the main compartment from the top (of course), from the bottom (less common, but not unheard of) and from the middle (which is both super-convenient and also unusual because of the shape of the outside pockets on most other packs). Third, it is made with two-layer fabric, with the outer layer specifically designed to prevent tears and punctures while the other provides the structural strength. I’m a big fan of composites like this (fiberglass, steel-n-concrete, etc).

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