Southerlies

The local newspaper just came and the weather report says Southerlies 20-50kph for today, directly to windward for my trip. And I thought I was being prudent for trying to relax the first day and not press on to Blenheim. What to do?

Actrix

While I was in Auckland, it was a simple matter of walking into an Internet Cafe, after I found one that would let me plug in the laptop, a connect to their LAN to get Internet access. Not so here in the South Island. At best, one seems to be able to beg use of a phone line, but not their account. As I didn't have a local ISP, I gave Mark a call. He recommended Actrix.

This seems to be a good choice. They have a pre-paid plan at one cent NZ per minute with a minimum of a NZ$10 (less than US$4.50) initial prepay. They also have a national freephone access number. I signed on. 600 minutes should last me through the South Island at least. It takes about five minutes to exchange mail and upload the web log, ten at most.

About the Dates and Time

It may seem that the dates and times on the posts are a little strange. It's because I have been lazy and have left the computer on US EDT as its local time (-4GMT) and in New Zealand its +13GMT. It often means that I am writing a day (okay, 17 hours) ahead of the time.

Windy Friday Morning

Woke up early this morning, with the wind rattling the open winddows. It seems to be blowing about 30 knots NW, judging from the boats moored in the harbor. Lots of low clouds, obscuring the hills beyond the harbor. Looks like I might wait a bit before heading off to Blenheim.

A couple of the neighborhood dogs are cruising by, one a black and tan hound-like dog, the other a black lab. The lab is badly dysplastic. It hurts to wacth him hop along, but he just keeps up with his buddy.

Daily Digest 31 Jan 2002

• Cycle Dist:19.4km
• Spent: NZ$87.15(incl BBH Card)
• Start: Picton
• End: Bayview Backpackers, Waikawa Bay (with an additional round trip to Picton

Daily Digest 30 Jan 2002

• Cycle Dist:~5km
• Spent: NZ$37.50 (dinner for Marine & Mark)
• Start: Waiheke (Rocky Bay)
• End: Auckland Train Station (and then to Wellington)