All it needed to do was rain

Today's a washout.  Pouring rain all day in Wanaka and maybe that's just what I needed to get this contraption started.  Combine that with a bus to Queenstown that leaves in about 3 hours and there you have it - I've finally started a blog.  

So let's quickly bring you up to speed so this can be more about what's currently going on.  I spent October on many, many trains.  I think I was in every state in the lower 48 except Wyoming, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire.  I saw tons of friends, two Canadian provinces, sun in Seattle, rain in San Diego and basically ate and drank like it was going out of style.  I got used to traveling by train, but at times it felt like living in a retirement home.  Everyone seemed to be 40 years older than me.  

A month ago, I arrived in Auckland and spent about 3 days too long in the city.  Auckland is a place where everyone is going somewhere else.  The streets are lined with travel agencies and tour booking offices.  The next two weeks were an immersion course in surfing (or so it seemed).  Everything was going great until I broke my toe, slamming it into the deck of my board.  Maybe it's not broken - not really the point.  It's going on three weeks later and it's mostly better, but I can still feel it.  

From there, met up with two 20 year old British girls who had a car and were nice enough to let me tag along to Kaikoura to swim with dolphins and Franz Josef to hike the glacier.  Left there Sunday, came to Wanaka and have basically relaxed for the past 4 days.  And it's been great.  There isn't much of a nightlife here and I've been sleeping until 10 or 11 every day.  Very comfy bed in this backpackers.  All of this (I think) is to prep for Queenstown.  I don't recall sleeping much the last time I was there.  It's a party town.  Adrenaline sports capital of the world.  I'll most likely be throwing myself off some cliff/ledge/mountain bike by day and then drinking in the afterglow with dozens of others eager to share their stories of the day's adventures.  Add to this that the sun sets after 10 and rises around 5 and it makes for a surreal location.  I'll be there through the weekend, and probably looking for some quiet corner to crash come Monday.

So there it is.  It's a blog.  I have no idea why I can't upload pictures to this, but I'll work on that.  All are welcome to comment.  This isn't really fun unless people comment.  Tim should have a running column (if you want).  And big thanks go out to Tom for deciding what the name for it would be.  We were in the back of a cab in Westchester being driven by a nice Thai lady to Kasey & Jeff's wedding reception when Tom read the printing on the upper right corner of my card's envelope.