Jetlagged in Auckland

Hello Followers,

It's about 430am here in Auckland, NZ. I'm jetlagged but for some reason Jennifer can sleep through the night unaffected. We are staying at the Nomad Fusion Hostel here. I'm really jealous that the hostel system here is so nice these days (at least compared to the ones we stayed at in Europe circa 2002). I wish I had come when I was younger, they are much cleaner and more social and seems like a lot of fun for yougner travellers. As for Jennfier and I, we are sticking to the doubles...the dorm rooms and social aras are just a bit too noisy for us (what old fogies we are). Right now some german dude is skyping next to me...seems like he is explaning what a "food court" is.

We have been in Auckland for a few hours and so far we've took a nap, visited the skytower (comparable tourist attraction to Taipei 101), and had a simple Japanese dinner. The skytower was cool because unlike Taipei 101, we got to go up on a clear and sunny day. Furthermore, the view of Auckland trumps Taipei as you get to see port, ocean, and mountains.

Auckland is a bit like UC Berkeley. At least the bit we are staying in which is close to a local univeristy (Univ. of Auckland...i dunno). Basically, there are tons of asian immigrants, Japanese, chinese, Korean. So to be honest, it doesn't feel like we left Asia yet...ha!

Our plan today is to take a ferry out to one of Auckalnd's neighboring islands to take a hike, picnic, and some photos...then to come back to organize some logistics (rent a van) and figure out where to head out.

I'll be glad to be heading out of the big city for some natural activities (finally). We'll be back in Auckland in a few weeksto finish off what we didn't see this first time around.

Hope everyone is doing well....please comment!