5 weeks ago I woke up feeling wonderful. Something was making me happy. This was surprising because I was in the middle of a project at work that was not going very smoothly. I looked within and realized that I had made the decision to quit my job. Now I am in New Zealand and I have an entire country and 2 months of freedom.

The flight to Auckland was nearly empty because the air traffic control glitch at LA Center caused most passangers to miss their connection to New Zealand. I had 3 seats to myself and slept fairly well thanks to that. When I woke up I started feeling a head ache coming. Should I have skipped the wine? It certainly helped me sleep.

The arrival over Auckland is beautiful. Low clouds cast strong shadows over the green pastures, and a twisted coastline of cliffs and beaches serves as a transition to the blue of the ocean. Of the 13 hours of the flight, maybe 3 minutes are spent over land.

By walking at a relaxed pace I went straight through customs, immigration, then on to the next terminal and marched right onboard my connecting flight. I am glad it wasn't any harder than that because fatigue was starting to hit.

Arriving in Christchurch was even more spectacular with the addition of snow-capped mountain ranges on the horizon. However, my head hurt big time. I claimed my bag and found a corner to sit. I didn't know what hostel to go to. I flipped through the Rough Guide and settled on a quiet backpacker away from city center.

Amazingly,I shared the van ride with a family who was on both flights with me, and who are from Prescott, AZ, a town I am quite familiar with. But I was too wiped out to make conversation.

At the 24 hour mark since I left Mojave, I eased myself into a dorm bed.

I slept from noon to 4 and got out of bed starving. I had not eaten lunch at all and breakfast was at 6 am over the Pacific. I walked out of the hostel aiming for the city center, but I veered off course. I still don't know where I went but there was a Thai take-out and that's all I cared about. Also, I decided to plan ahead just a bit: I bought a bagel for the next morning.

As I sat in the dining area of the hostel eating my sweet and sour pork, I pondered my situation. So far I have done this much planning for my trip: Eat dinner; chill out; go to bed; get up and eat bagel; shower. Beyond that is up in the air. Probably I'd make an other attempt at reaching the center of Christchurch.

I followed my plan and sure enough I am in Christchurch center right now. It's been 48 hours sinceI left Mojave.

The feeling I want to describe is giving me trouble. Christchurch is not much of an adventure. However it is the starting block for the main part of my trip. Maybe I'll spend the week-end here to get rested and ready, then I hit the road. The feeling I am failing at describing is one of being excited about the idea of having a completely clean slate, 2 months long, yet not knowing what to get excited about specifically because I just don't know what I am about to do.