a few weeks

i wanted to write a post, about all sorts of things: travelling, coming to the end of my year (plus seventeen days), the upcoming elections, the iowa d.o.t. (again).  but as i am wavering between feeling fine and overwhelming nausea i fear i may have come down with some stomach thing, and i will have to keep it more brief than i intended.  (and just when i've got my rental car, too!  i hope it's short-lived.)

travelling!  i will concentrate on that because obviously i am not in wellington any longer, as that was a couple of weeks ago since i wrote that.  i went to paraparaumu, on the kapiti coast, for a few days, but was rained and wind-ed out of going to kapiti island to look at some more birds.  i didn't have my heart set on it, so i'm fine with that.  i then went to napier just in time for hawke's bay day on friday and labour day on monday.  awesome!  so i had to move hostels halfway through, and felt very lucky indeed to find one to move to.  i didn't do much there that i didn't do before, but i did go to the national aquarium.  it's very cool, and i really enjoyed looking at all of the fish. 

next i headed to taupo where i missed the good weather for the tongariro crossing waiting for it to be nicer the next day: i ought to know better, and that the weather here is so changeable.  if there is a nice day, take advantage of it!  but i didn't, so i still have not gone, but i hope there will still be time at the end.  i did however, go kayaking on lake taupo with a man from a company that does these sorts of things.  it was just a short trip, three hours to the maori rock carvings.  it was very cool, and a beautiful day!  twenty knots winds?!  it was flat as glass out there.  i do have blisters though, thank goodness they are already healing!  next whakatane.  didn't do much there, but picked up a rental car for my east cape adventure.  i return it there as well, so i'd like to do white island (an active volcano off the shore there) when i get back. 

it's a whirlwind thing, but it's good, because it keeps my mind off of my ever-nearing departure date.

and now i feel ill again, so i will post more later!