Happy MLK Day (Maybe he could have made the correct pass interference call...)

Other than the reference in the title, I will not talk about the game at all as I am obviously disgusted. I hope this post finds you all well and enjoying the 3-day weekend. This past weekend I spent my time exploring Auckland a lot more and becoming very familiar with the city - there are only 1.3 million people here (out of only 4 million in the country and 40 million sheep) and the area is fairly easy to get around. Saturday I started the day by going to the Ponsonby area, which is known for having the best restaurants in the city as well as good bars as well. Hamish (no Windheim, he's not Jordanian, but Scottish, although I could see the confusion with the name) told me about a great burger place, crudely named Murder Burger, that I had to try; it was not that great and I probably should have stayed with the Lonely Planet recommendations of great brunch spots in the area as the book has been spot on thus far regarding pretty much everything. After eating, I walked down to Victoria Park and attempted to figure out the game of cricket after briefly discussing the rules with Hamish earlier in the day. Below is a picture I took of a game going on. It was humorous to me that not only do the points go in the 100's, but everyone is dressed in really preppy white pants, vest, etc. like they're going sailing:

After watching for a bit, I walked over to the piers and took a ferry over to Devenport, which is

just across the bay from Auckland and part of the North Shore area. It was a pretty sleepy neighborhood with a lot of couples restaurants, but also a nice hill to climb up and get great views looking back on Auckland's CBD and the skyline. This was a personal favorite of mine (Silver, good symmetry?):

I took the ferry back over to the city and met up with Hamish and a couple of his work friends at an apartment downtown where we drank some scotch (Aberlour) and I had a good laugh in my

head when all three of them were oggling the glory of the liquor like they had never tasted it before with one kid telling me how to swirl it, smell it, and taste it - yeah, thanks, chief, I kind of know my scotches. After this, we went to a house party as the one scotch kid is actually a DJ and knows, apparently, one of the biggest rap names in New Zealand. His name is PNC (not the bank) and he seemed like a pretty normal dude when I met him at the party. I was introduced to him by a wasted Hamish as "my friend Justin who just got laid off at his job in New York and jumped on a plane to beautiful New Zealand!"). Here is a funny music video I found of his song, "Just Roll": http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=ecxd1IK32tw. (He's the guy on the couch with the gotee to the left of the weird dude that for some reason is wearing a dinosaur costume). The song is actually not that bad. I probably should have asked PNC what his influences are. The party was not that popping, but we also left around 12. Check out his cover of "Moonlight" as well as that gave me a good laugh too.

The next morning I woke up early and took the ferry to Waiheke Island, which is known for its wineries (currently at around 32) and some really nice coastal day hikes. The hike I did was around Church Bay and took roughly 2 hours and I ended up sweating like crazy and walking in like a shlub to the Mudbrick Vineyard where I put down about $3 to taste 7 really nice wines. New Zealand (particularly the Marlborough region in the northeast tip of the south island is known for its Sauvignon Blancs and also has some great Riselings as well). The other winery I went to was the Cable Bay Winery. It was far surperior as the guy giving the tasting was brought in

from the bar because it was so busy and he was not use to pouring small tastes, so we basically were poured close to half a glass of wine for all 8 wines we tasted - and he forgot to collect the $5 - glorious. I was obviously pretty buzzed walking back to the ferry, but enjoyed a nice sun setting on the harbour as we docked back in to the pier.

The rest of the night was pretty laid back and I woke up this morning and checked in to the Nomad Fat Camel hostel as I was running low on my patience with Hamish and needed to get up early Tuesday morning for a bus tour I'm doing. I'm going with a company called Stray and it's basically one of those "hop on, hop off" bus tours

where you pay not that much money and get transportation, a guide, discounts on a bunch of activities (spelunking of course, Dave), etc. So I leave tomorrow morning at 7:45 am and our first stop is Hahei, known for boiling hot water that comes up under the sand and people sit in them like jacuzzis. Also, a stop soon after at Raglan, which is known for being a really good surfing town - I may have to try it out for the first time and see if I can at least stand up (I mean, Phil, if you did it, I'm sure I can). I then start making my way down south through the north island and eventually to the south island.

I've enjoyed everyone's comments to the posts and I will respond to them as I can and of course any emails sent my way.

Take care,

Justin