2nd stop - New Zealand

Monday (5.19) I head out to Auckland which marks the second stop on my RTW agenda. I am looking forward to the much talked about New Zealand. Everyone I've spoken to loves it there and highly recommends it. At this stop, I do not have any connections and surely no extended relatives to put me up ;-( but I am looking forward to the adventures. If by any chance anyone has some cool people you know in New Zealnd and are willing to introduce to me....please let me know.

I will only be in NZ for one week and have packed it tight with many outdoor activities and some cityscapes. A few things I will be doing...
-check out Auckland city
-fly to Queenstown in the south island for a couple of days
-drive to Franz Josef for a half day glacial hike
-head back to north island to either do the Waitomo cave or ride the Zorb ball at Rotorua.
-lots of driving alone but I think the scenary will more than make up for it

Sydney half marathon, I was "unofficially there"

First, thank you for your vote to help me decide on running the half marathon. It was an overwelming 80% (yes, go for it) and 20% (no, you're on vacation). After I've put you thru the polls, I have to unfortunately report that I did not run it however was able to be there to see the race in an unexpected turn of events. Let me explain. I was all set to go, got my maps, train schedules, and gears all ready to go however I was dealing with a conundrum on how to be mentally and physically ready for the race given the evening before was my bon voyage party.


Saturday evening was the "whole cow" party that my family graciously hosted as a sendoff gift. As you can understand, being that the party was for me there was some mandatory eating, drinking, and karoake singing. All this happiness of course can only lead to a very, very, late night. After toiling back and forth on how much to eat and drink to make sure I get some decent sleep for the race. In the midst of all this, popped the opportunity to hit the town and experience Sydney nightlife, given that its my last night I reluctantly dropped the idea to run the race ;-(. Plus I knew that not having proper sleep, alcohol, and "not so proper" food can really affect the race.


So I headed out to the city for lots of fun and dancing which was much needed after all the eating at the party. We were out til sunrise and I thought this was the end of the night however the entourage I went with decided to go to a "day club" which opens at 6am and closes at 12pm. Yes, this is available in every major metropolitan and Sydney is no exception. The downside of carpooling sometimes. In my mind, I know that its going to be a very long day somehow I still had enough energy to continue dancing...crazy!

As 7:30am rolled around, I was also thinking about the race and how I secretly wish I was there. While waiting for everyone to prepare to leave the day club, my cousin tapped me on the shoulder to show me the reflections of the runners passing the club. I immediately felt envious of the runners hitting the pavement and wondered if I had made the right decision to. Well, after a few moments self guilt, I headed outside to encourage the runners and take some pictures of what could have been...next time.