of toilets, trees, and bubbles...

I've only used two toilets down here so far (hard to believe, but true), and both of them had very weird flushing mechanisms, so I can't tell you guys either way if it is true or not.

Its official: New Zealand is the tree climbing capital of the world. I went for a walk in the park near the center of Auckland today, and these arboreal highways are what I found.

The weather here is really eccentric. Today it has been really windy and rainy, and then suddenly the sun will break through and you will be too hot. 5 minutes later its raining hard again.

I saw one of the most incredible things today. At a park near downtown Auckland, there is a fountain that sends water flowing down several cascades before being recycled back to the top. I'd walked by it a few times yesterday, so wasn't planning on stopping to see it during my wandering today. On my way to the library, where I am now, I saw a few people standing above the fountain looking down, confusion written all over their faces. At that moment a strong gust of wind came along, and a strong cloud of bubbles rose into the air.

I walked over to the rail, intrigued, and saw that all of the pools were full of bubbles! somebody had poured detergent into the feed for the fountain, and there were giant, feather-light icebergs of bubbles floating all over the park. I sat and watched for a long time, it was mesmerizing.