T-3 days and counting

I'm in bed, emailing, etc. What a lame-o, no? Perhaps. But I woke up with a hacking cough now. The Gods are trying to drive me batty with this month-long cold (since before the marathon). I will just have to go and relax on the beach in Thailand and recuperate.

I did a load of business yesterday: updated my resume, repacked (sort of) two of my large-in-charge duffel bags, walked to the top of nearby volcano Mount Eden, laid on the trampoline with Grace, fended off scary hostel guy (one of those conspiracy theorist Americans from San Diego), took a shower (just threw that one in there to see if you were paying attention). Heh!

Crazy picture lady is at it again:
(I didn't notice the camera was set on "color accent." Normally the water is aqua blue... oops!)
Cows at the top of Mt Eden
Mt Eden volcano cone
Auckland from Mt Eden

Dreamy Days (weekend recap)

Ursula and I walked home from work on Friday to her house (about one and a half hours) and picked up a bottle of wine on the way. And sat in her backyard waiting for Nick to come home from work.

We rewarded ourselves with dinner at a gross Indian restaurant (called Sitar I think). I ended up crashing on their couch (not that I was drunk, the transport situation leaves a lot to be desired here). The restaurant scene is the same as the transport- luckily I am not too big on going out to eat.

Saturday we got up early to go to the Otara market- which we thought would be a cultural affair, but was more for the poor folks. My landlady had a nicer way of saying poor, but I can't recall what it was- oh, "impoverished area." But we got some produce anyway (from China probably) so if you don't hear from me, you'll know what happened. Then we wandered through shops at Mt Eden (a suburb of Auckland) and had a lovely lunch at a cafe. They have the best coffee here- even in places that are highly suspect. After that, we searched out two used book stores, one of which was so disorganised, I got nervous just looking in the window. Luckily it was not open.

On our way to the beach suburbs, we passed by an organic grocer, Huckleberry Farms, where Ursula and I had a heyday smelling the various organic laundry detergents and frolicking among the bulk bins. I'm sure her husband Nick was sorry to hear what he had missed (he was off sailing).

Our last destinations were Mission Bay and Pt Chev, two more suburbs of Auckland on the beach, decidedly NOT impoverished. We parked the car and walked along the beach and boardwalk for 2 hours, watching the surf and sunbathers. Finally Nick called for us to pick him up from the marina. It took some major elbow twisting to get us to sit down for a beer with the sailors at "Swashbucklers." I went girly-girl and had pink wine. I don't quite have the taste for NZ beer- even the dark stuff tastes sort of like Bud Lite to me. It's funny, they all look like they should taste different, but they don't...