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| Erin with Tweety at Eugene's house near Wellington. |
| Erin's Journal 01-13-03 New Zealand Today we weren't sure what we were doing. Glenn was so frustrated with the ugly weather that he'd been talking about cutting our New Zealand trip short and flying back to Australia early. After all, it's supposed to be summer here, and it's been raining almost every day we've been here! This being an outdoor kind of place, it has put a serious crimp on our sightseeing/adventuring, and he has been feeling particularly cooped up. So when we heard the rain coming down as we slept in, we both thought about leaving Wellington a day early to head up north again toward the Tongariro National Park, where the Tongariro Crossing is supposedly the best day hike in New Zealand (you walk all day and see 3 volcanos as you go). We would also spend a day going to Lake Taupo (another volcano, whose crater is topped by the huge lake), which has some great boating trips and kayaking to some awesome Maori cave carvings that can only be viewed from the water. Hopefully the weather had passed that northern area already and would be better for outdoor stuff. When we got up and out to shower, the sun started breaking through intermittently, and we abruptly changed our minds. Also, Eugene and Audrey had just returned to town last night, and we were invited to dinner at their place, so we figured one more day would be ok. We did laundry in the morning, and I made another doctor's appointment to check into my continuing problem. While we waited for my 1:45 appointment, I caught up on journals while Glenn took care of changing over the laundry (I was down to wearing shorts and shower shoes so I could wash all my socks & pants!). We got down to the doc's a little early, but didn't have time to go find lunch. I waited till 2 for the doctor, while Glenn ran off to check out the air levels in our tires. He has been very unhappy with this rental car! I saw the doc, outlined all the stuff I'd been going through since 12/19, the docs I'd seen and meds I'd taken, and what was going on now. He did an exam, took samples, and made a quick prescription, with instructions to call back for results at the end of the week. No problem. We quickly filled the prescription and stopped for a bottle of wine to bring for dinner before heading back to wait for Eugene & Audrey to come get us for dinner. They were a little late, but we discovered they'd left a message for us with reception (you never check with reception at a holiday park unless you need something -oops!), but it was no problem as we'd been reading and enjoying watching the families of ducks eat bread from all the tourists. We rode up into the suburb of Kelson with Audrey & Eugene, sharing tales of what we'd done & seen since Rotorua. Eugene's parents were preparing an awesome barbecue for us, with chicken, sausages, and a baked dish of mussels that was absolutely awesome, as well as veggies and mashed potatos. It was a feast!!! We were a little embarrassed at the wine, though, as we found that nobody at the house drank any alcohol really! Oh well. I ended up playing with Eugene's bird, Tweety, for most of the evening, and we two formed a bit of an attachment! I'd be singing to him from across the room, whistling, and calling his name, and the little guy would call back and imitate me, then get all agitated to get out of his cage. Glenn got into the action too, and the bird loved chewing on his stubbly-cheeks! We amused the whole family, I think, and we all had a great time in general. Eugene's family had emigrated from Singapore a few years back, and were regaling us with stories of getting adjusted to the slower pace and different foods here in New Zealand. They were extremely nice! When it was time to leave, Eugene & Audrey took us up to a scenic hill overlooking Lower Hutt and all the way around the bay to Wellington. It was clear and gorgeous but COLD, so we didn't stay out of the car longer than it took to take a couple of pictures, then they dropped us off with promises to stay in touch and contact Audrey when we were getting closer to our jaunt out there. A good day! |
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| Glenn with Eugene, his parents, and Audrey |