Focus

All highly accomplished people seem to share a common trait: focus. All the drive and ambition in the world comes to naught without focus. Focus is the foundation of many of the world’s religions; intense introspection. Peeling away the onion, as it were, to reveal the true core foundation of one’s being. The Buddhists believe that through meditation, chanting and deep focus, one can turn thought into reality. The kiwis have a different method:

I was in a shop across the street when I took that picture. I asked the guy behind the counter what the story was. He just shrugged and said "everybody likes beer". Can't argue with that logic.

We went to the Auckland museum. The entire third floor is their war memorial. It is an excellent exhibit. It starts way back before the white men came here and it was just the Maoris thumping each other over the head with clubs. It then proceeds chronologically through the British/Maori wars, the Boer wars, WWI and WWII. It also has a section on the NZ role in UN peacekeeping, but I skipped that part.

It is really an outstanding exhibit, including a complete Spitfire and Zero (first real one I’ve ever seen). Unfortunately for Cynthia, by the time we finished the war memorial part my feet hurt too bad to see any of the artsy crap. As a peace offering I agreed to go with her to the Winter Gardens.

Why Japanese is not the official language of New Zealand:

With over 17,000 miles of coastline, surfcasting is a big deal here. I’ve decided to give it a try during our travels, so I bought a cheap setup that I can give to some kid when we leave. There’s a pretty cool spot near our room where people go to fish from the street. I got a few pointers from the bait shop. So far all I have to show for my efforts is squid scented fingers (no comments Michele). This evening a guy walked up and asked me how it was going. I told him that I hadn’t had a bite yet. He said “that’s because there are no fish here. Come back in January”.

Total trip cost to date: $8,939.15