I awoke at 7:45a after almost 8 hours sleep (I’ve suffered very little jet lag) and spent the first 3 hours of the day in bed on my laptop. I finalized and published yesterday’s blog post, deleted unwanted photos and videos from iCloud, reviewed my first two Airbnb stays, looked up geocaches to find today…

I’ve chosen several platforms to document and share my trip, primary among them Facebook posts and stories, 1 Second Everyday videos, and this blog. I’m struggling a bit to keep up with all of it, not so much in the classic dilemma of documenting vs. living in the moment.. more that I need to create moments to manage all of the content. I don’t want to let any of it go, both because I want to preserve my memories and because so many of my close peeps have requested to follow along with me.

Graham (from a previous post) gave many recommendations for my one day in Auckland. What I really wanted was to be on the harbour, and he suggested the ferry to Devonport, a quaint town with bookstores and such. Sold!

I chose a breakfast spot near the ferry terminal, a cafe in a hotel. I sat on their patio and enjoyed a turmeric vanilla latte (YUM) and salmon benedict over hash brown slabs (not shredded). Something in the egg dish did not sit right in my belly, but fortunately it passed without incident, which was good since I was getting on a boat!

The ferry to Devonport takes not even 10 minutes but affords nice views of downtown Auckland and the Harbour Bridge. Once docked, I walked the harbour for a bit, taking sit breaks so as not to aggravate my back. Still, around 3:00pm, my back was telling me it needed rest, and the sunscreen I’d applied was wearing off and I hadn’t brought it with me.

So when I happened upon the town theater with a showing of Avengers: Infinity War that had just begun, I surprised myself by spontaneously buying a ticket and taking a seat. Spend 2-1/2 hours in a dark theater on a mostly sunny day, my only day in this city? Yes. Even with the pause in walking around, my Fitbit steps for the day wound up being over 14,000, or about 6.5 miles. I benefited from the break far more than if I’d pushed myself to see more, do more.

This also meant I got to take the ferry back to Auckland at dusk, with the same view now ablaze in city lights.

I caught an Uber from the ferry building to Ponsonby Central, a collection of mini-restaurants and shops, very similar to Chelsea Market in NYC, where you belly up and watch your food being made. This was another recommendation from Graham. I wish I could tell him I took up two things he suggested. I was in the mood for some nourishing ramen, so I opted for Chop Chop Noodle House.

From there, I walked to New World, the grocery store from last night, to pick up a banana and granola bar for my 7:30a bus ride tomorrow (what I found instead of bars were something called wholefood balls). Then back to the listing for laundry (yay!) and…. more laptop time (this post, Facebook photos of the day…).