Auckland, New Zealand.

We're in Auckland, New Zealand for a quick 4 day jaunt before returning back to Australia. I get the sense that the people here have a hard time understanding the American accent. Whenever I talk to someone, they take a second to realize that I'm speaking English, and that I am not, in fact, speaking an Asian language.

It's cool. We rented a car -- Annie, the trooper, had to learn how to drive on the right side of the car, maneuvering on the left side of the road, and go through eighty-three rotaries. Look! I lived to tell the tale. We went to see the famous Waitomo Cave glow worms (which are really maggots), angora rabbits, and kiwis, whose habitats have been reversed so that we can observe them during the day (they're nocturnal).

Oh, and I forgot: more on Australia. At the McDonald's in Melbourne, they have the Quarter-Pounder on the menu. WTH? AND Subway still has the 6-inch sub. Have you no shame Australia? No love for the metric system? I like the U.S., but I'm not crazy about white flagging it to American hegemony. That being said, I ate something called the McFeast, which was sort of like a Whopper. But I had it without the McChicken Sauce, which is mayonnaise. And by the way, Burger King is Hungry Jacks, I think.

My thoughts are all disjointed, and my usual wit and sass in writing my blog entries is just not available right now. Part of that is because I still think it is 5am yesterday, and because everywhere we drove today, I thought I was in Hobbiton. For reals.