October: Travel Notes
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October: Travel Notes
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SPRING HAS SPRUNG: We finally hit the tail end of a long, wet winter :) October blessed us with both a reduction in the power bill due to cycling the dehumidifier and shutting off the heat, and several days of verdant sunshine (followed by several weeks of rainy punishment). Spring officially arrived, and with it, daylight savings, which means I don't have to be up until 10 a.m. to talk to Mom until daylight savings hits North America :) HEALTH NOTES: Ceasing use of heater and dehumidifier did not magically cure the "dry skin" problems I had been having around my eyes. A visit to student health yielded the chipper report that they have been seeing a veritable boat load of weird skin things lately: Hamilton's reputation as being the worst place in the country for allergies strikes again! The good news is they say it is just eczema (with which I am acquainted, though until now, not near the eyes). The bad news is, there is really not a whole lot they can do for it. In other health notes, I was getting eye strain so I had my prescription checked. I needed a new set of glasses, but insurance will cover nearly all of it. They did look in my eyes with a scanner thingie to verify that there was nothing going on to account for the skin thing other than eczema, and they said the insides of my eyes were fine. And in a final health drama, I had a scary reaction to something at a Thai restaurant and am trying to get a referral for food allergy testing. All in all, not my best year for health :) LAKE TAUPO: Got invited to somebody's friend's cottage for a weekend hike. We had planned to go up to the mountains to do the famed Tongariro Crossing, but were foiled by weather and lack of proper equipment. Instead, we did a hike inside the park itself, around a pleasant lake with several small beaches. On the way home, we did a drive-by of the town of Taupo, and stopped to see a neat waterfall. Pics here. |
