Queenstown

A LITTLE SELF MAINTENANCE

This week I took care of a little self maintenance.  Since we have good insurance currently, last week I went in for a physical.  This week Tuesday Alisa and I had some blood taken for labs.  On Thursday I had my 2nd colonoscopy which went well.  4 small polyps were removed.  By Friday I was feeling back to normal.  It’s not my favorite procedure.

We continue to work from the apartment.  Tomorrow, June 1, we begin the 6 month count down until we return home.

Saturday Alisa booked us up pretty solid.  We started by playing pickle ball with the group outdoors at a local elementary school.  The we went on an outing with Elder and Sister Greg and Lori Burton, a younger senior couple from Wyoming.  We drove to the Waitakere Ranges regional park where we hiked to the Kitekite water falls.  Of interest is that we saw fresh water eels in the river there. Afterwards, we stopped in the tiny town of Piha and had pizza for lunch at the Piha café.  In the afternoon we were invited to do lawn bowls again by Mike Fox from the Browns Bay pickle ball gang.  This time we went to the Sunnybrae bowling club which is pretty close by.  Then we came home to watch That Darn Cat on the Disney channel.

Kitekite falls

Elder and Sister Burton from Wyoming

Old hollowed out Kauri tree

Fresh water eels in the river

MORE ADVENTURES

Another full week of work.  I seem to always have enough little legal messes to keep me busy full time.  I settled a little mess this week in Samoa that has been going on for years literally.  The Church has about an acre of land they own, but for some reason the Church buildings encroached on the neighboring  parcel when they were built. So there was the issue of whether the Church owed money for infringing on the neighboring land. Also, initially the Church leased the land, then they learned it wasn’t customary land at all, but freehold land.  So then they purchased it, but some of the village chiefs felt the Church wasn’t playing fair.  Anyway, long story short, we decided to buy another ½ acre adjacent to our 1 acre parcel, the land that our buildings encroached upon for years.  But one of the local Church members had built her kitchen fale (shack) years ago so that it encroached upon the ½ acre we were trying to buy.  The head chief felt the Church was delaying in buying the ½ acre but we said we wouldn’t buy it until the kitchen fale was removed.  So finally the stake president and some members went by and helped the Church member tear down her kitchen fale and move it elsewhere. We got the head chief to sign our offer to purchase and the deed, and we closed on Friday.  It was a mess, but hopefully the village elders are now all happy and everyone can go their merry ways.

Thursday Alisa and I spent a couple of hours and helped a few other senior missionaries move about 14 cars from a Church parking lot in south Auckland to the Takapuna chapel parking lot.  These are extra cars which have been abandoned since the young missionaries went home due to Covid 19.  Apparently the new location will be more convenient to the mission offices for when new missionaries start coming back.  It turns out that there will be a number of new mission presidents around the world that won’t be able to report for duty come July 1 due to countries being locked down.  So the Church will just have local members cover for them until they arrive.  Tahita opened up on Thursday to all visitors again.  I predict that will start the snowball rolling and other countries, especially in the Pacific, will follow suit.  French Polynesia was really hurting since so much of their economy is reliant on the mighty tourist dollar. 

Saturday morning Alisa and I got up early and were on the road by about 7:30 a.m.  We drove the little over 2 hours to Raglan, a cute little beach town west of Hamilton on the Tasman sea.  We first stopped at the local I Site to buy some souvenirs and get recommendations on what to see in the area.  Then we walked around downtown, stopping to buy some fresh sour dough bread at a bakery and a sammy (sandwich which we split), stopped in some shops and made a dinner reservation at the Orca restaurant which looks out over the water.  Then we drove to the local wharf where we had a lunch of fish and chips, the best in town we were told, and I agree, and after we gave our order, the place quickly filled up.  From there we drove to the Waireinga Bridal Veil Falls which we hiked down to.  Actually, these were the most impressive falls I’ve seen in NZ, 50 meters high.  We then returned to Raglan to check in to our the little house we’d rented through Air BNB, and were impressed.  We took naps and read, then we headed back to the Orca restaurant at sunset and enjoyed our meals.  I had slow cooked beef cheeks, mash, bacon and mushrooms. Alisa had a pasta dish.  We dropped by a grocery store to pick up some milk for breakfast, then headed back to our bach.  This morning we had hot cereal and sweet rolls that Alisa made with her new KitchenAide we inherited from the Whatcotts, checked out, then went down for a stroll on the Ngarunui Beach and Manu bay, quite scenic with its fine black sand beaches, and waves that roll in from the left side.  There were a lot of surfers enjoying the crashing waves.  Then we ended our adventure by driving back to our little apartment in Takapuna.