A Long, Long Day

We got a late start--after two days going to Auckland, we were a bit tired.

We walked past the bus station--missed the bus--and strolled on the Onetangi beach near our house. The buses run about once each hour outside of rush hours.

The bus took us to Oneroa, where we set up a bank account.

Everyone was friendly and there was no rush, so we got everything set up. It's nice that people are not in a big rush. When the bus stops you can have a long chat with the driver and he'll find out where you're going, when you plan to return, and then he'll make sure you get the lowest
possible fee. When the four of us go out, we get an all-day family pass; we can ride the buses as we need them.

The bank setup took long enough that we had to cancel our hike and take the bus back toward home. We needed a computer printer and two more US/NZ electrical plug adapters. We keep stealing each others adapters--we needed more to keep things harmonious.

We got our hike after all. I pulled the call on the bus one stop early. Nice view during the walk, but it took us a while to climb the hill to Belgium Avenue. Once we bought the printer, I had to carry the box.

We walked down the other side of the hill to the grocer. I sat outside with the printer while Lucy, Emily, and Ben filled our reusable grocery bags with good things. We're having lamb tonight! Surprise!

The local cafe was closed, but its free internet connection was still working so I turned on my Palm device and started reading the US news. Palin resigned?

Groceries bought, we missed the bus by 1 minute. We had a 55 minute wait for the next bus. Luckily we were heading into rush hour and that means more buses. It turned dark and cold.

At last we got the bus--it was the express, which gets us home 10 minutes sooner than the normal bus. Because we had a all-day pass, I was tempted to get on a bus and just ride it around the loop to keep warm. We carried the result of our hunting and gathering back to the house--and started bidding on the car.

We lost the auction, but we will get a car. Buses that run once an hour can cost you two hours fun/work/whatever each day.