Heading Out to see the country

well, parts of it. there's certainly tons to do in new zealand. i've been in auckland for 3 days now and i've enjoyed it a lot. my feet are tired from all the walking though. i am heading out tomorrow at noon in a rented car. i'll have it for 4 days. i might not be online until i get back from that. first i'm going to head north for a couple days, then i'll pass through auckland and head south for a couple days. i'll check out some of the natural wonders, beaches, forests, small towns, etc. hopefully i'll remember to drive on the wrong side of the road all the time. auckland is full of parks and they're huge. today i went to a big museum in one of those parks, sitting way up on a hill. it's the auckland war memorial museum, but it's got maori history, natural history, and new zealand military history all in one building. it was pretty nice. i really didn't do a whole lot else today except relax for a while, take a few pictures, and buy some postcards. oh, and it seems the cleaning people in the hostel took my shorts and don't know what they did with them. now i'm down two pair of shorts, as i ripped one pair to shreds on rarotonga. i'll be walking around bottomless soon, so watch the newspapers.