January 13 - Day 5

 I didn’t sleep as well last night. I woke up a few times and was done sleeping by 5 am. But it was still a decent night of sleep and I felt good when I got up.

Started the day again at Gloria Jean’s coffee shop. We’ve really enjoyed the Americanos there and the breakfast food is good too. I was actually able to get yogurt today! It had some compote that made it too sweet but also had berries and granola so I enjoyed it very much.

After breakfast, we decided to head for Takapuna beach. We walked the first mile or so and then took a bus over the bridge and into the Takapuna area. The day was beautiful with paradise weather. Warm but not too hot. We walked along the beach for a while and then stopped so I could have round two of coffee. Headed out on a loop hike along the water from Takapuna beach to Milford beach and then up into a residential area and around Lake Pupuke, which was also a wild life reserve. Everything was extraordinarily beautiful, there were swans, geese and other types of fowl everywhere, beautiful lily pads, and warm sunshine. This has definitely been my favorite day. I loved being by the water and out of the city. After our hike, we went back to the same place I had breakfast. It was a lovely spot by the water and the food looked good. I ordered an omelet. I couldn’t totally understand the waitress when she described it but when it arrived it was filled with something that looked like worms and you could see the eyes. The other challenge was that New Zealanders like eggs only about half done. I did the best I could with this omelette but I didn’t make it through it. My stomach was starting to feel weird. I couldn’t tell if it was physiological or psychological but decided it was prudent to stop. Matt had a fish sandwich and ate all of his food and finished mine. That is pretty normal for him. 

After lunch, we headed back to the bus and repeated our venture from the morning. The bus across the bridge and then walked home. By the time we arrived at the hotel, we already had passed 20,000 steps for the day.

We decided to venture to Queen Cinemas and watch Avatar on the IMAX screen there. This movie is 3.5 hours long but we decided to brave it. It was definitely crazy with sounds and visuals beyond your wildest expectations. And the time went quickly. The story was hokey without much substance but we still enjoyed it. We ate popcorn and drank soda while we watched.

After the movie, neither of us were feeling very hungry. I wanted a salad but when I couldn’t find anything that looked remotely healthy, I decided to skip it. I need a low eating day anyway. 

Tomorrow we fly to Christchurch where we will meet our group. The weather still looks awful. We’ll see how it goes. 


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