Entry #059: Monday, February 10, 2014 (Auckland, New Zealand)

Well, another chapter closing off in the book of my travels (and I almost mean that literally, because if you printed out all these blog entries into a book, it would come out to at least 250,000 words, and most likely much more; I'll check before it's all done). Heading out from New Zealand, where I spent a little under two months, to South America, where I'll spend a little more than two months. Reflections on that later. But let's talk about the last couple days in New Zealand before I get on my 41-hour flight. Whoop whoop!

Entry #058: Wednesday, February 5, 2014 (Auckland, New Zealand)

Wow, can you believe it's already February? I kinda can, but it's still pretty trippy. At this moment, I only have about two-and-a-half months left on my trip, and a scant few days in New Zealand. And now I'm in Auckland, the unquestionably largest city in the country, and my plans are...very unexciting. 'Cause that's how I roll: when I'm about to leave a country, I like to slow down and not do as much. But that's not to say the last several days have been uninteresting! Well, the last couple have, but there's plenty to talk about before that! So let's do it to it!

Entry #057: Friday, January 31, 2014 (Tauranga, New Zealand)

With this being the end of January, and the fact that I only have three more bus trips scheduled, it is really starting to sink in that my time in New Zealand is coming to a close. That's the weird thing about staying in one country longer, I guess. Some may say it was too long - others may say it was too short - but after giving it some real thought, I've decided that like everything else, it's exactly what it needed to be. On a less philosophical note, I did some cool stuff the past few days! Let's have a look at them!

Entry #056: Tuesday, January 28, 2014 (Rotorua, New Zealand)

All said, I could probably wait a few days longer before publishing a new entry, because one of the main crux of the last few days is that I wasn't really doing too much. But truth be told, I'd rather have more, shorter entries (at least, in equal proportion to the leviathans I occasionally write). And also, that's not to say nothing happened in the past few days. I talked with a lot of folks, for one! Also, there are some things interesting because they didn't happen, but I won't spoil the surprise...

Entry #055: Saturday, January 25, 2014 (Taupo, New Zealand)

So what a difference a few days (and a couple hundred kilometers) make. I've gone from a fairly dull place, staying in a really uncomfortable hostel, to being in a pretty laid-back-yet-happenin' place, in a hostel that's quite comfortable. I've gone from rednecks getting stoned off their asses to tastings of honey-based alcohols. I've gone from walking for hours to...walking for hours. Huh. Actually, yeah, walking for hours has apparently become that thing that I do, so much so that I've now added a new tag for these entries for it. (Not that I'm going to retroactively tag all the old posts; that would require actual work.)