Gublers in New Zealand: November 2020

Saturday, November 21, 2020

CHRISTCHURCH VISIT

Monday evening Sis. Gubler and I attended an ABBA tribute concert with a few other senior missionaries at the Bruce Mason convention center in Takapuna. Thursday evening we treated Kazuhiko and Tazuko Yamashita to dessert at House of Chocolate, and said our farewells.

Friday morning we got up early and drove to the Auckland airport, to catch our 8 a.m. flight to Christchurch on the South Island. We attended the International Law and Religion seminar at The George hotel, which Alisa and the Communication dept. had helped plan. Then Alisa and I were free for the weekend. We drove 1 1/2 hours to Hamner Spings which was in the mountains, a very Swiss looking resort town. We checked into The Spa Lodge, and had just enough time to go for a swim across the street at the Hamner Springs resort. This place had around 20 pools, tubs and water slides, all using hot springs water. Then we walked to an Indian restaurant downtown for dinner, before we crashed after a long day.

On Saturday we slept in some, listened to Pres. Russell Nelson’s address about the importance of gratitude, had an oatmeal breakfast (we brought our own oatmeal and the motel furnished the milk as always), then we went back to the resort, where we tried out the various water slides then soaked for a couple of hours. It was pleasant to ride the water slides with heated water! For lunch, I had a pizza and Alisa a salad at the little cafe on site. Then we hiked in some pretty woods nearby before driving back to Christchurch. There we checked into our bnb (Orari), a restored home from the 1890’s, located in the touristy downtown area. It was about 6:30 p.m. by then, so we walked around downtown but most places were closed. We visited the Anglican Cathedral which is still undergoing repairs from the 2011 earthquake damage. We found a nice food court that was open, and had Cambodian food for dinner.

This morning we attended the Parklands ward for Sacrament meeting. We actually knew a couple of YSA’s that were attending there, and saw the NZ member who is the Olympic champion in women’s shot put the last few Olympics, who was also visiting. Then we visited the Catholic Basilica that was wrecked in the 2011 earthquake and which has yet to be rebuilt, “punted” down the River Avon through their botanical gardens, visited the Canterbury museum near Christ’s College, and rode the tram (electric trolley car) around town. All the wreckage from the 2011 earthquake has long ago been cleaned up, but many of the buildings have just disappeared or are holes in the ground or not yet restored, due to lack of money. For instance, the Catholic Basilica has yet to be restored because of no finances; supposedly Rome has been approached about financing the repairs. The multi story Holiday Inn is just a huge hole in the ground. By now we had seen what we wanted to see, so we rescheduled our 7 p.m. flight to 4 p.m., and flew home early, in order to get a good start on our final work week coming right up!

Christchurch tram

Punting on the River Avon

Catholic Basilica ruins from 2011 Christchurch earthquake

Restoration of Anglican Cathedral from 2011 earthquake in Christchurch

Hamner Springs

ILRS Conference

ABBA Tribute Concert at Bruce Mason Center

Saturday, November 14, 2020

THE LONG FAREWELL

This week began the long farewells. Monday evening was our last FHE with the Senior missionaries. It was Alisa’s and my turns to bear our testimonies and say goodbye along with the Walkers, McMurrays, and Burtons. The Walkers and McMurrays flew out Thursday, and the Burtons will leave a couple weeks after us. The number of senior missionaries here will then severely dwindle due to no replacements coming. We met at the Area office building for the function, and ended up with heavy appetizers which counted as dinner and desert for us.

Tuesday we were back at pickleball after a couple of weeks layoff. The people there seemed genuinely happy to see us, thinking we had gone home without saying good-by. Wednesday evening was the farewell dinner for the McMurrays at Al Forno’s Italian restaurant. Friday evening a young YSA couple treated us to a picnic at a little park, Hilders Park in BeachHaven on the beach, Matt Krull and Maddy Pederson. We had had them over for dinner previously.

Saturday morning we had beautiful sunny weather. I enjoyed my 10 mile bike ride. Then I spent a few hours at the office finishing up my final review and update of each of my files on InfoGuide, and transferring my files to the remaining attorneys. My last 2 weeks will be spent training and wrapping things up. Saturday afternoon we attended a luncheon for the International Law and Religion Symposium (ILRS). And in the evening we were invited for dessert with Mike and Trisha Fox at their home. I presented them with a Book of Mormon and Meet the Mormons video. We enjoyed spending a couple of hours with them. Mike is one of our pickleball buddies.

Today I teach our last Temple Preparation class, combining the last 2 lessons since we have run out of Sundays. Then we have 3 YSA’s coming over for our last YSA Sunday dinner. As I said, things are winding down. I paid the last installment on my electric fat bike, and we started the process of getting our cars registered and getting insurance. There’s a lot still to do to get ready for our return to Covid 19 stricken America.

Farewell FHE

Mike and Trisha Fox

Hilders Park with Maddy and Matt

Saturday, November 7, 2020

BBQ WEEK

Not much to report this week. We got back from our trip to Dunedin Monday evening. Tuesday I woke up with a case of pink eye and a few sniffles. I still went in to the office, and was feeling better by the end of the day. It was the only “sickness” that I’ve experienced on this mission. Wednesday in NZ was election day Tuesday in America. Everyone here was watching the election results between Trump and Biden. New Zealanders like Americans and what goes on in our country, it fascinates them for some reason, and they all like to travel to the US (at least per-Covid 19). By today they had finally announced that Biden won the election.

Alisa and some of the other Senior sisters rented a BnB in east Auckland and spent Thursday afternoon through Saturday morning there watching BYU Education week presentations on-line. So Friday after work I rounded up a group of the Senior Elders and went out to dinner for Korean BBQ. Of course we ate way too much, and I didn’t sleep well that night, but we had a good time kidding around.

Saturday I rode my 10 miles via bicycle, and went into the office for a few hours to try to get caught up. In the evening Alisa and I went over to Kazuhiko and Tazuko Yamashita’s apartment for dinner with them and the Tanners. Bro. Yamashita had just purchased a new gas bbq, and wanted me to cook the fillets so he could see how American’s bbq, so I was happy to oblige and give him a few tips.

Our landlord listed our apartment for sale this week. House pricing is out of control in NZ, at least in Auckland. Our 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment was listed for NZD$769,000 which is USD$500,000! The banks and lenders don't do 30 year loans here, the current rate is around 5%. So we've tried to keep the apartment super clean for showings, quite a number came through.

Korean BBQ with Elders McMurray, Reynolds, Romney and Poll

Sunday, November 1, 2020

FROM THE NORTHERN TIP TO THE SOUTHERN TIP OF NEW ZEALAND

Another busy week. Down to one month to go until we return home to the States. Last Monday Alisa and I joined the YSA’s for a morning bush walk in Shakespeare Park. It was a day off work due to it being Labor Day in NZ. I went in to the office for a few hours in the afternoon to get a little caught up. Otherwise the week was work as usual.

Last weekend Alisa and I visited Cape Reinga, the northern tip of NZ. This weekend we visited the southern tip of NZ, Invercargill, Stewart Island and Dunedin. Friday afternoon Alisa and I caught a flight down to Dunedin on the South Island. We picked up a rental car and drove 3 hours to Invercargill, which is on the southern tip of the South Island. After checking in to our motel, we dropped by a local restaurant for a nice dinner.

Saturday morning we caught a one hour ferry ride to Stewart Island, which is the smallest of the three main islands of NZ. About 400 people live on the island in the one town, known as Oban. They survive on rain water, which is their water system. We had a light lunch at their Sea Side Hotel/pub, then took a bus tour around the island. Then some short hikes before returning to the ferry. We even saw some blue penguins playing on the beach. Back on the South Island we drove about 4 hours along the “scenic route” which was basically a two lane twisty back road, until we arrive at Dunedin. We checked into our motel in the downtown historic center about 8:30 p.m. We rushed out after checking in, looking for a place for dinner. We went to a Turkish restaurant known as Paasha, and talked our way in as it was near closing time. Turned out to be an excellent choice, better than the Mad Greek. Alisa and I bought the combo dinner, which included a huge platter of shiskebab beef, chicken and lamb, shaved meats, pilaf, macaroni salad and a Greek style salad, with olives, hummus and more.

Sunday morning I awoke early so I went for an hour walk around the historic downtown, visiting their train station, city hall, and a few churches. We actually enjoyed beautiful sunshine this day, not like the drizzle we experienced on the other days. Quite pretty, the town was founded in the mid 1800’s by Scottish immigrants, and still has a lot of Scottish influence in their architecture. Back at the motel, I showered and dressed for Church. There are 2 wards meeting in Dunedin, and we visited the friendly 9 a..m meeting. It appeared that most of the attendees were of Maori descent. After church, we changed into our daily wear, and went exploring. We visited their Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world (which they are quite proud of). The city is located in hills, something like SF, but only about 80,000 people. We hiked up the street and back down again, since the signs prohibit driving on the road, except by the locals who live along the street. Then we hiked around their botanical gardens, quite pleasant. Next we walked around the historic campus of University of Otago, NZ’s oldest university, 150 years old. Then we took a tour of the Olveston mansion, which dated from the early 1900’s. By then it was the late afternoon, so we drove out to the tip of the peninsula and checked into the Larnach Castle. This is advertised as New Zealand’s only castle, built in the 1880’s. Something along the lines of Hearst Castle but much smaller. The owner was quite prominent in his time and influential in government. He later committed suicide in the Parliament building in Wellington, due to a tragic family life. The castle property went into disrepair, but a family purchased it in the 1960’s and restored the mansion and the grounds. Our room was in the stables. About 7 p.m. we gathered with other guests in the formal dining room, for a 4 course dinner and conversation. We actually dined by candle light, it almost felt like an Agatha Christie murder mystery, but no one died. About 10 p.m. our hostess asked if we would like to tour the castle. That was kind of eerie to do that late at night, we were led all the way up onto the parapet to see the night lights and stars.

This morning we arose early and were served a full NZ breakfast in the stable, along the lines of an English or Welch breakfast. Then we visited the gift shop, toured the castle again, this time in the daylight, as well as the manicured grounds. Then we hiked down to Tunnel beach, a steep path, drove back to town to see the buildings again, then to Port Chalmers where the cruise ships come when they used to be allowed in prior to Covid 19. Then back to the Dunedin airport for our flight back to Auckland aboard a crowded JetStar flight. The Dunedin area really is quite picturesque, one of the places I would live in NZ if given the choice.