Hi all!

Am a bit hummm. . . today! Have been trying to sort out the US leg and it is all a bit more complicated. Have sorted out LA (am staying in Hollywood which sounds great but was speaking to a girl from Michigan last week and she said some bits are a bit grubby)and will do the rest next week. Ideally I was gonna do Vegas with LA then San Diego and San Francisco (my bridge fetish) but it looks like I can only do one or the other and there is not a lot of accomodation in San Diego.

Anyway here in New Zealand, apart from sitting on this computer, have trekked to outer Auckland today to find the Auckland museum. Took me a while but you can not miss it when you get there, the most fabulous building ever. All white and grand. Here I saw a Maori performance and it was really, really good. They did lots of traditional dances and things. Instead of digerodoos, they played big sea shells. They did the Haiku dance. It was funny. Lots of shouting and stomping!

The museum covered everything and to be honest, I ran through most exhibits. There was so much there and for somebody with only a little brain, I've had to try and cram a lot in it the last few weeks. There is a whole floor devoted to the wars and maybe I just never paid any attention at home but the memorials here in Auz and NZ seem grander and more poignant then our little slabs of rock. They have a hall of memory here which is eerily silent with all the names written down the marble walls and a big memorial surrounded by all the anzac poppies and wreaths.

Ooh, I may owe NZ an apology. They may have took Anzac more seriously then I suggested earlier in the week. Heard some men talking about the dawn services they attended. Maybe by the time I got out of bed all the rituals was over. 

Back in the hall, I spotted wreaths from US, Maltease and German govts. There is a little bit of a blank wall and engraved there is something about hoping they will never have to fill the wall with any more names. I think I am going soft but thought, it was a really nice tribute!

There was also a natural history level with lots of dead spiders and stuffed birds on the ceiling. There was a model of one bird which used to roam New Zealand and it was more then three metres high. Gave me the creeps a bit!

Also, I have heard a little about the little barrier island here. It is a conservation island and you need permission from the govt to set foot on it and then only very important people can and they have to spray shoes etc to prevent transmission of foreign soils etc. Even the boats are not allowed within a certain proximity in case a rat jumps off the ship on to the island, eurgh! The idea is that the island is meant to grow as New Zealand would have if there was no human inhabitation.

Anyway better go. Kia Ora, apparently you can say that in NZ and it can mean virtually whatever you want it to mean.

Sam xxxxxxxx