Today and yesterday I've been eating with wild abandon. I think it comes from having too much time on my hands.

Well, it was sightseeing proper today in Wellington. I went for a walk up Mt. Victoria, went to the zoo and visited two museums and had lunch in front of the Parliament building.

The hostel that I'm staying at is called "Beethoven House". It's run by an eccentric English [educated] Asian man [who is also a huge queen]. This place is militantly non-smoking. There are signs everywhere telling smokers, "We know who you are", "Piss off", "Go die", etc. The only music played here is classical and most of the time it's Beethoven. He puts Beethoven on every morning at 7:30 but it's something mellow like strings. In the morning, between 7:30 and 7:50, he serves free breakfast. It's tea, coffee, a toasted cheese or banana sandwich and all the toast you want. It's served with margi [margarine], two different jams and Vegemite. Of course I gorged, and felt ill. The assistant here is a young English guy who was only going to stay in NZ for two weeks but he's been here six months. He has two dogs which actually GUIDED us (a young Swiss couple and I) up Mt. Victoria -a 20 minute walk to a great view. He runs up the mountain with them every night.

The zoo was great. The sun was out so I got some pictures of animals that normally live in Africa. In the nocturnal house I finally saw Kiwi birds. They're about one foot tall, plump, brown and have long, slender beaks. Their nostrils are at the end of their beak so they can smell worms while they dig. I went to the maritime museum and saw the war memorial (every town seems to have one) and to the National Museum where I saw my first Maori stuff. Then I went to a HOT shower (last night was cold) and porked. Very relaxing. I wish I had more money.

Training Diary Comments: Warm. I'm starting to feel fresher. I needed a break from the bike.

Mt. Victoria	Mt. Victoria
Wellington Zoo
Camel	Zebra
Snow Leopard	Snow Leopard
Lion	Lion
Bison...?	?