The UnderWhelmer

Well, this did not go according to plan.

The idea was that I'd send some lovely pictures of the New Zealand countryside to all of you (i.e., my friends in Austin) by taking the Overlander to Auckland, instead of a plane, on my trip up to Wellington.)

Well... here's the thing.  The Overlander hits a lot of the same areas that I've actually been to already - most notably, it follows Highway 1 in a lot of places; and I've already got pictures from Highway 1.  I've already been to the Kapiti coast as well, though I didn't know it was the "Kapiti Coast," just that it was a nice little shoreline outside of my hostel that I took pictures of. 

And while taking photos from the train was okay at first, after a while, at around your 200th photo of rolling hills and blue skies that look alot like the Windows Desktop Theme, you realize that you're on a train.  For Twelve.  Hours. Straight.

The worst part is that I was just so worn down by the end of the train ride, I just stayed at the first hotel in Auckland that I could find.  And doing the math here, the hotel and the train ride, together, cost about as much as a plane ticket... so I pretty much could have just taken a plane and be done with it. 

The one thing I wanted to do in Auckland, anyway, was to head to the Classic comedy club, but both nights, it has been sold out because someone called "Rove" is playing there, and he has a TV show on Fridays in Australia or something.  His name didn't ring a bell until I realized that he's the guy who interviewed Elmo in that viral video. So, no comedy in Auckland. 


Anyway, I'm going back to the hotel, as I don't have much Internet time left.  By the next time I post, I'll be in the U.S.