07/11/2016 Today I have to admit that I slept in, not getting up till half 6am. I have decided that I will not attempt to do anything touristy, but instead take the day to regroup, send back the excess baggage, and get some footwear that I can wear for the rest of the trip comfortably, and get a sleeping mat so that it's more comfortable in the tent. I will also make enquiries about how to get a replacement fly sheet.
I spent the first part of the morning until 9 am, doing mostly procrastination type organising things, and also got the chance to meet Helen (also in the same dorm room), who is from Albany, NY. She is in New Zealand to be an intern on a tall ship - her first port of call being Paihia, where I had just come from.
I also spent some time chatting with Sophie, who had lived in Malaysia so she was giving me lots of tips on places I should go while I'm there - since nothing is booked regarding Malaysia yet, it shouldn't be too difficult to squeeze them all in somewhere!
I headed to Queen Street, which seems to be the main shopping street in Auckland - every shop seems to be there! I quickly found all the out doorsy shops and started comparing their wares. I tried on multiple pairs of sandals, and wasn't really sure about any of them by 11am. I located the post office, and packaged up the return parcel and sent it on its way, along with 5 post cards (just to family for these ones, don't worry anyone who emailed me for a post card, there's still 50 weeks left of my tour for me to send at least one!)
There was one shop left according to my intel. I went past it on the way up the street as I failed to notice the sign, and on my way back decided that since Burger King were offering a reasonably priced meal deal, I'd go there for Brunch. I tried out the wifi just to see, and discovered that I was getting upload speeds 20x faster than the paid for internet back at the hostel or at the campsite, and the connection didn't keep dropping out for any time at all unlike the other ones which spent minutes at a time with no connectivity at all. I think I need to find some excuse to camp outside burger king to do these photo uploads!
I found the last store, and the sandals meant for me - though the store clerk at first seemed upset that I wanted them, since apparently they are women's shoes - I told her I didn't care, and that what was important to me was whether or not they fit properly and were comfortable.
I also managed to check in at the North Face store, where I established that my model of tent is not carried in any of the New Zealand or Australia stores, and so I'd have to order a replacement fly from California and get it sent to the Queenstown store - so I need to organise that. The guy at the store, who is from Edinburgh, gave me contact details for the Queenstown store so that I can try to arrange that.
Goal achieved, I grabbed some groceries and headed back to the hostel, and did a trial run for fully packing - it all fits nicely now, and even if the fly is just sitting on top of the tent over the next couple of weeks, I'll have a comfy air mat to sleep on, hooray!
Now that my journals have been updated, I'm going to try and find a way to deal with this backlog of photographs!