FAREWELL TO ROTORUA AND COUNCIL CHAMBERS

The last couple of weeks have kept Sis. Gubler and I on the road.  Last week on Friday we traveled to Hamilton for a mediation hearing before the Human Rights Commission.  The mediation was held in a rented room in city hall.  The usual 2 hour drive is now 1.5 hours, since the new Hwy 1 has been finished and is more like a freeway now, not needing to pass through each small town as before.  Anyway, the hearing involved a disgruntled Church member who felt that the Church had been unfair in how it marketed some home lots in Temple View.  Supposedly in his mind there were two sets of Covenants (what we’d call CC&R’s in CA), one set being “bank friendly” for good members and the other “bank hostile” for less actives or non-members. Thus, according to his claim, there was religious discrimination.  In fact, the Covenants involving these building lots were registered prior to the lots being sold, so the Covenants applied equally to all in each stage of development.  Additionally, all marketing was done by Cambridge Homes, an outside development company unrelated to the Church.  The complainant is a nice enough guy, just has his facts a little mixed up and has his own agenda against the Church.  Anyway, the matter didn’t settle, and he may now file an action with the Human Rights Review Tribunal if he chooses.  If he does, we will prevail based on the applicable law and facts.  We started the hearing at 10 a.m. and went straight through until 3 p.m.  Afterwards, from Hamilton, Alisa and I drove another hour on to Rotorua.

This will likely be our last trip to the resort town of Rotorua, known for its geo-thermal wonders and rotten egg smell from the sulfur.  There are a lot of hot springs and steam everywhere.  We checked into the Prince’s Gate, an historic hotel dating from 1897, located downtown near the I Site.  Not only did we get a discounted rate, but they put us into the master suite, a living room, bathroom and two bedrooms.  We thought we were pretty special.  Because we were tired from a long day, we ate dinner at the nice restaurant in the hotel, then went to the Polynesian Spa down the street to soak for a couple of hours in their 8 naturally heated pools, before bed.

Saturday morning we slept in a little, then walked to the Farmers Market by the city park.  We bought food there from the vendors for our late breakfast.  Then we walked back to the I Site and selected our activity for the day, a visit to the Waimangu Volcanic Valley.  It was a pleasant drive in the country to arrive there, lots of sheep and rolling hills.  We hiked through the valley, about 1.5 hours, seeing lots of geo-thermal activity.  At the end of the hike we took a cruise around the adjacent Lake Rotomahana.  It was early evening by now, so we drove back to our hotel, then walked downtown and found a Mexican restaurant for dinner.  It was the first standard Mexican restaurant I’ve found in NZ, almost authentic.  I enjoyed 2 fish tacos and a burrito.  I’ll add that on this visit we were about the only foreign tourists in town, unlike before, due to NZ’s borders being closed.  This time the only tourists were locals and people like ourselves who lived in NZ prior to Covid 19 arriving.  As a result, most tourist attractions are half priced.  Tourism has really taken a hit in NZ as a result of Covid 19.

Sunday morning we soaked in the naturally heated outdoors tubs at the hotel,  then checked out and attended Church at the Fairy Springs ward in Rotorua, then drove back to Auckland.

This week Monday through Thursday were pretty standard office days.  Friday morning Alisa and I got up early and drove to Hamilton again, this time to the Mendenhall Library in Temple View.   This case involved a verbal fight that took place at the David O. McKay stake center 2 Sundays ago.  One young family was exiting the building after Church when another couple from the next ward accosted them.  They got into a shouting match about some perceived rumors and gossip, and it wasn’t pretty.  Even more unfortunate was the fact that the husband of the 2^nd couple is a grounds supervisor at the temple grounds, employed by the Church.  Of course, a complaint was filed with Church employment by the family of the first couple, and I was given the job of investigating who said what for the HR department.  Usually HR does their own investigations, but since everyone knows everyone else in Temple View, including HR personnel, they asked me to handle the investigation since I didn’t know anyone and no one there knows me.  So I borrowed some office space in the Mendenhall Library and interviewed the two couples involved and 2 others who claimed knowledge of the incident.  Alisa did some shopping meanwhile.  In the late afternoon, we drove back to our apartment, stopping in Pokeno for some ice cream cones.  Cheapest ice cream in NZ, $2 for single, $3 (NZ dollars) for double scoop, Tip Top brand.  Saturday I went for a bicycle ride, then spent the rest of the day in the office typing up reports from my notes from the day before.  

I'll be leading the music in Sacrament meeting today.  Alisa and I were just called to teach the temple prep class in the YSA ward starting next Sunday.  This afternoon we'll have 3 young adults over for dinner.  We've been trying to invite a few each week to get to know them better.