Up north in Paihia, in the Bay of Islands. It is absolutely stunning here. And though this is the warmest area of the country traditionally, it's a bit chilly (biting winds). Even so, the sky is blue, the air clear, and the clouds look like they were painted in place by still-drying oils.
I've noticed that many of the backpackers here are closer to my age, late 20s, early 30s. Well, maybe not most (too early to say), but a great deal if not so. It's funny but a topic of conversation that comes up here constantly among travelers is how expensive Australia is these days, what with the Aussie dollar worth more than the USD for the first time since 1989 (working on memory here). Though I've saved money and budgeted for this trip (and am valiantly trying to remain within budget), the worries about money, saving and finding a job among young people here is infectious. I feel like I've never subsisted on less food than I have thus far here. Such a strange experience. Of course, it's only a couple days in, and this hostel cough hasn't helped. But yeah, interesting days. Even so, New Zealand tourism is up, overtaking the dairy industry as the country's biggest export industry, according to numbers released today by the government's tourism industry association. That's very evident, as are numbers that show rising business confidence and expectations of hiring -- there doesn't seem to be much sign among locals (and perhaps I just haven't seen this yet) of the Recession. I'm sure tourism has helped. Also, the fact that service-industry individuals such as servers in a restaurant receive a living wage here. Anyway, enough of that for now. I'll write more of my day tomorrow.
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