MWNews 281

I think I have stuff to do but I can't remember what it is. Now I can't even remember what it was I forgot. Let's pretend I started this on a Thursday and managed to finish it in one day.

I am going to visit Maeghan this weekend. Don't know when and she is not aware of it yet. She called last night just to say hi. Haven't seen her in a couple of weeks. She has a lot of school work to do and her laptop is acting up, so it takes her longer to do it than it should. I thought about buying her a new iPad but decided it was just too expensive right now. We have the trip to Tasmania and William's birthday and of course the reason for the trip, Juanita's birthday. So it might be a bit tight unless I dip into my retirement money. I will probably end up doing that anyway, but I need to make sure I actually need it and that I take out enough to cover everything. By then, Maeghan will have finished her current project. I think her school term ends soon, so probably look at something for Christmas if she still needs it.

I still haven't got William out for driving. Maybe I will do that this weekend also. I have a lot of chores to catch up on at home but since I have been putting them off for months, I might just put them off again. I need to fix one of the cabinet doors, which I keep forgetting about and when you open it, it falls off the hinges. Probably have to replace the whole thing but if I am not currently opening it, I forget I need to do it. Until the next time it happens. Maybe I will just take it off and leave it off. This is the third time it has happened, so either my fixes don't last or it is broken and cannot be fixed. Once I start that, which will have to be the first thing I do, I will be too tired to do anything else so none of the chores will get done again.

Most of the problem is, I am very tired all the time. I have no idea why. I have started getting more sleep, or I think I have. I am not waking up during the night as much as I used to and I am being woken up by my alarm. Normally, I wake up one or two hours before my alarm goes off. I then can't get back to sleep, so I stay up and only sleep about 4 hours a night. Been doing that for years. A lot of years. Now, I sleep until the alarm goes off but I am tired all day long. Tired to the point where I cannot walk anywhere and when I do, I am exhausted when I get back. Can't wait to sit down and rest. Old people are so funny.

Talking about me and myself again. I am thinking that is all I do anymore. I go for a heart scan on Saturday. Then back to the doctor to review my medication. Since no one knows why I take any of it, he thought it would be a good idea to go over it and see what I actually need. I tried to do that 5 years ago but the only thing that happened was they proscribed more medication. I was just about to go into a long winded example of the incompetence of the medical profession but decided I couldn't spell half the words and I really didn't want to do that again, so I left it.

 I was talking about William and his lack of driving skills. I am not sure where Maeghan is with her driving. I think she is still having lessons, but I am not sure. I will have to find out. William has never driven a car. He says he can, but he has never done it, so I am not sure what he is basing his abilities on. He says he is too big to drive, and while that may be so, lots of people his height drive. You just have to get used to it. We will see how it goes when I get him out to try. I have found a fairly large parking lot at a train station that is not used on the weekends. I am hoping to get him out there and see how he goes. Just to let him get used to driving a car. Now that my car is two years old, I am less inclined to worry about him ruining my new car. I pay for insurance. Not that he is on it, but with an empty parking lot, maybe no one else will be involved and I can say I was driving. Who's going to contradict me. William probably.

I think we have something else planned soon but I can't remember what it is. Last weekend, we went to Chermside because we had not been in a while, but I found out I don't really like going to the shops anymore. There is the whole getting tired way too often. And the spending money thing. Seems every time I go to the shops with Juanita, she finds a couple of hundred dollars worth of new clothes to buy.

I should mention, if I haven't before, that Juanita has lost a lot of weight in the past six? months. She had that tie your innards into a know thing done. I won't go into the my opinion of the merits of that operation, and making that statement kind of hints at my feelings, but she has lost about 50 kilos since then. Hopefully, she won't read this, but it kind of makes her look old now. Lots of loose skin and stuff. Not bad, but different. 

Of course, it means she needs all new clothes and she takes every opportunity to buy them. She probably doesn't realise it, but in the past few months she has spent several thousand dollars on new clothes. She had to do it, he other clothes no longer fit, but we don't need to do it every time we go out. Makes me reluctant to go anywhere.

My ideal trip to the mall is to sit and have coffee at every coffee shop we come to, or at least my favorites. At Chermside, there are two, maybe three that I like. I'd like to stop at each one and just watch the crowds. But there, the crowds are too big, the noise is too loud and I can't drink that much coffee. At Morayfield, where we live, there are three coffee shops that I like but we only ever go to one because we have been there so many times, 2 or 3 times a week. We only go to the shops we want to go to and then have a coffee. Then we go home. At Chermside, one of the largest shopping malls in the southern hemisphere, it takes hours just to walk around to everything. Lots of places to see and do, and there is always something new, but I think it might just be too big now. Too much walking. Since it is about 45 minutes away, it is the closest, but not one of my favorites anymore.

I'd like to go on some of the drives we used to do. Problem is, Juanita works on Saturday, so that leaves Sunday. Sunday, a lot of shops are closed. And the fact that it is the day after Juanita has worked three straight 9 hour days, so she doesn't wake up and get ready until around 10. I have been up for 7 hours by then and I am ready to do nothing. If we start that late, we don't get anywhere until noon and then it is just a quick fly by and then we have to head home. If I can get her to get up around 7, we can be out by 8. Still too late for me, but nothing is open that early anyway, so getting up early to do things is a problem. We have to figure out something as we are both in a rut and need something new, or at least something we both can do at together.

I have gone on a bit too long with this. It does mean I can close this entry and start another. More about the kids hopefully. Seems to be a common refrain. But that's it for now.

Later

MWNews 280

 I have got to stop reading the old entries at work. Maybe next time.

Let's see if there is any news. Karen finally announced she is moving to Queensland. We have been talking about it for months, with several variations and plans. The issue was always that we had to keep it secret from Juanita until a final decision could be made. She didn't want Juanita getting all excited and then have it get cancelled. But she sent me a note that she was going to tell Juanita yesterday and when I got home, Juanita gave me the good news. I told her I already knew. She said Karen had told her that, so I don't know if I am in trouble for keeping it a secret for all this time.

She is going to live with us for a time. I don't know what she is or is not bringing. She said she was moving the caravan to Craig's place to empty it and then put it up for sale. I don't know about the car. I would think she would need that to bring any stuff with her she wants to keep, but I have not been told what she is bringing. She did say she would be storing it in the our garage, but if she is only bringing her suitcase, I am not sure what there will be to store.

Her plan is to eventually move to the Gold Coast to live with a friend, but those arrangements have not been made yet, so I don't know when that will happen. She gets here on the Dec. 18. She says she is excited about having Christmas with us. First time in five years I think. 

William is talking about when he gets a job. Not that he is looking for a job, but he is telling us when he gets a job, he is going to give us all his money. He says he expects to make $600 a week as a security guard. I have no idea if that is accurate or not. Not that it really matters since anything he gets will probably pay that much as that is kind of low. But, to him, it is a lot of money.

William is the type of boy who will actually do that, give us his money. Another thing that makes me sad. It is as if he does not know me at all, which is entirely possible. I would never even think about accepting his money. Not even for rent. I have always told the kids, my house is your house for as long as I am able to provide a house. They do not owe me anything for raising my kids. And, I am kind of resentful that they would even try to offer. They know me. I always say, if you are with me, and it does not always just apply to my kids, but if they are with me, I pay. No matter what. Doesn't mean they cannot pay for things on their own, but I pay when you are with me. That's my job. If nothing else, that is my job. 

Juanita, on the other hand, will accept and even in some cases, demand they pay for something. I don't like it, never have, but I guess I just look the other way when they do that. I justify it by telling myself she is accepting money for her to pay her bills and that is between Juanita and whomever. Doesn't matter if she pays half the rent and the money they give her means she does not have to pay as much. As long as I am not accepting money to pay my bills, I am ok with that arrangement. Maybe I am a hypocrite, but if keeps me sain. 

And now that I have talked about things that have no bearing on this blog, or maybe they do. It's a mystery to me.

Maeghan is having trouble with NDIS again. Not really trouble, but they are getting slower and less cooperative with the things they were initially set up to do. Initially, they were supposed to allow people with disabilities a place where they could go to get help with everyday things that a normal, non-disabled person would be able to do. Like driving a car, or wheelchairs, or building ramps for their houses. Even with school aids to make sure they were not held back by their conditions, no matter what those conditions were. What ended up happening was all these other companies were set up to deal directly with NDIS for the people who needed it. NDIS was always going to be a bureaucracy, so dealing with the paperwork is good thing to have help with.

After a few years, they noticed that the external companies were just corrupt. Maybe not all of them, but enough that they are re-designing how NDIS works. Probably go on for a number of years. But it means, they are not approving anything and when they do, it takes forever. I won't go into the all the corruption they have discovered, I think I might have mentioned it before, but Maeghan's helper seems to be very good at it and has helped a lot. She has gotten her driving lessons approved and she is trying to get the previous lessons Maeghan had in Tasmania approved so Maeghan does not have to go through so long of a learner period. I think it is 100 hours or something ridiculous like that. Not that I understand it. 

I think that is about all for now. Been several days since I posted anything so I am going to put this one out there. Start another one probably this afternoon.

Later

MWNews 279

 That last entry was a downer. I almost decided to delete it. I didn't.

I am having a bad mental day, so I am not going to continue typing. Really bad memory problems, and I walked into traffic this morning. Scared me and scared all the drivers. I could put it down to just a mistake, but I did it twice. No idea what that means. But as I cannot type at the moment, I am going to come back to this when I feel better.

Way too boring around here today, so I am going to try typing again. Some kind of seniors class support awards or something that the whole school had to go to. 

And then everyone showed up at once to have me fix their problems. So this is the next day.

Maeghan is having driving lessons. I don't know if I mentioned that. I probably did but how would I know. I think she has had three of her ten lessons the government will pay for. Then she is on her own. I think they are trying to work a deal where she can use the time from back in Tasmania when she took lessons and actually had a drivers license. That will make it easier and faster to get a new license. Maybe then the NDIS will start the paperwork on getting her car modifications approved. They should have done that two years ago, but I know I have told that story and don't really want to go into it again.

William had an operation recently. Nothing serious, just some cosmetic stuff. Of course he is in agony, but usually only when you want him to do something. He is fine otherwise. I have found a parking lot I might be able to use to teach him some driving basics. Then we can go get his learners license and he can start to drive for a bit. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't, but at least he will know what he needs to do to start driving. Maybe it will get him off this motorcycle kick. I won't go into that again either, but he still has the idea he can drive a motorcycle without ever having learned to ride a bicycle. 

To go into some past things that have happened in the two years I was not typing, I will try to remember some of them. 

Can't really think of anything, but I will give it some thought and get back to you.

It has been a few days. I don't remember when I was last typing in this entry. It was last week, but I don't remember what day. Hopefully, Friday, but I don't know. Just finishing up my coffee and I thought I would have a look as to where I am. Wasn't planning on typing, but why not.

I know why not. Too busy and I can't seem to type. We will see if I get back to it later today.

I have mentioned that I am re-reading all the old entries to try to fix them. Up to 133 at the moment. 133 and 134 are not that easy to read. It was a bad time. The entries for it are basically a rehash of what I said for those two events. I was tasked with writing the eulogy's. And, if you are not aware, I did say eulogy's. It was a terrible time and basically, is still defining our lives. We live with it every day. I know Juanita does, I think Maeghan does, and William not as much unless he thinks about it.

I might as well say it, it is the times when we lost Natalie, Michael, and Beverly. All within a couple of months. Some were kind of expected, Michael, and maybe Beverly in some way, but Natalie was not and was caused by an accident and issues that shouldn't be brought up now. I have trouble reading the old entries as it makes me cry and I shouldn't be crying at work. But that is an old story, me crying at all the old entries. With Maeghan and Juanita and I and then the loss of so many in such a short time. I don't start just thinking about it, but when I read what I wrote, it gets me every time. And I still have to finish 134. Not sure what comes after that, but I created a lot of entries immediately following the loss of the parents, nine in one month, so I am not looking forward to reading what I wrote. Maybe it will be a good thing. The month I started writing was a couple of months after the fact, so maybe I was more positive. Maybe not. We will see as I start to get into reading them.

I wrote quite a bit that year, after that, but then there is a year gap before I started writing again. I don't remember what happened then. I hope it's not bad. Don't recall anything that would have made me stop, other than laziness. It will be catchup time, I guess.

I probably should end this as a really short entry. Too much pain and heartache and anticipation for what is coming. And I don't really feel like doing it today. I just started because I was here and there are no students pestering me. That's about to change. End of class. Then I get lunch and I don't have time for anything after lunch as I leave thirty minutes after that, if I actually do get a lunch. Lately, I eat at the front desk and don't get to take a break. They need to hire someone.

But I will move on. Here they come. I am closing this now.

Later

MWNews 278

 Blogger has told me they are going to take down some of my pictures. Apparently, they are movies that are not allowed. I haven't put any movies in here that I know of. I think it might be something about my iPhone taking movies with all its pictures and saving them that way. I have no idea. They said they will not play on the platform and never have. I really don't know what they are talking about. I guess I will wait for them to disappear and then replace them. I am hoping they are not deleting the entire entry and only deleting the picture. They recommend I make a backup of my blog before they do it. So I have 30 days to figure out how to back this up. Then I have to figure out how to restore it if I ever have to do that. Not a lot of instructions on how, why, and when this is going to happen. They say in the next 30 days. We will have to see.

I have kind of looked it up. It will be something I need to do at home. There is an option to backup your blog, but I don't know how that works and I don't want to do it at work. There is also a section on pictures and videos in the blog. It says I do not have any videos. I have no idea what that means. It also says there are three sections for MWNews, each with a couple of hundred photos in each. I have no idea what that means either. Going to require me to do some work at home. I hate that. I have no desire to work on computers at home. I am burned out on working on computers. Don't want to do it anymore. Don't want to have this job anymore. But, I have 30 days to get it backed up, so I suppose I need to do that. My question is, if I back it up, and they delete the pictures or entries or whatever it is they are going to delete, how do I restore it. If it does not allow the videos it says are there, how do you restore it without the videos. 

I hate change.

Enough about me, let's talk about me. I went to the doctor yesterday to report my heart attack. I made the horrible mistake about saying I thought I had a heart attack. We spent the next 10 minutes trying to explain that I have no evidence of a heart attack, only past experience with this type of pain. No matter how much I explained, he kept asking me what hospital I went to. I finally had to say never mind, I didn't have a heart attack, I had chest pain and the cardiologist said I should have my GP arrange for me to go visit him again. I said that was why I was there. If he had some tests or anything he wanted to do first, then we can do that. So I am scheduled for an echocardiogram in a couple of weeks. He did a listen to my chest and back and said I also needed to be checked for fluid in my lungs and then to come back and we would go over all the medication I was taking to make sure it was the right medication. Since some of it has been prescribed by the cardiologist and some of it by him and some of it the last time I was in hospital and some of it from my previous doctor four years ago, he thought it would be a good idea to go over it all. I said I thought it was all in my records but he said no, it wasn't. Have I ever mentioned my distrust and lack of belief in the competence of the medical profession. Maybe I have.

So I am scheduled for more tests. I am sure, a year from now, they will decide I need another angiogram, which will lead to angioplasty. So time off work. Or maybe I will be retired by then. I doubt  it as retirement is looking farther and farther away. I have this sneaking suspicion I will be back in for open heart surgery at some point. No evidence of that, it is just a suspicion on my part. The surgeon who did the last one, twenty years ago, said I would probably be back at some point since I was so young at the time. Maybe I am too old now and they won't do it, but I think this is the age when most people have it done the first time.

I am also very tired all the time. I have always put it down to lack of sleep, 5 hours a night is about all I get these days. But it seems I am extra tired and get tired very easily these days. Plus, I am having trouble breathing or I am short of breath all the time. And to top it all off, my back hurts. Don't think that is related to anything, but it hurts all the time now. Old age, overweight most of my life, it is finally starting to catch up with me. And I have to mention, happening right now, that I am eating a mandarin and it is one of the most sour mandarins I have ever eaten. Just thought you needed to know while I was complaining.

Expect other updates on my health, or what little I have left. Mentally, I am still a wreck. Forget everything, get lost all the time, unable to concentrate, just a series of events that will eventually cause me to lose my mind. But hey, the doctors tell me there is nothing wrong with me. They will keep saying that right up till the time they diagnose me with Alzheimer. Everything says early detection is key, but since I have nothing wrong with me, and forty percent of all people have it, I am one of the lucky few who will not get that disease. Good on me.

Have you enjoyed my tale so far. I am going to publish it as is. Have no work to do, so I need to go pretend I am useful. I published the last report for the trip to New Zealand. I have a lot of other stories but I thought I should stop doing this for the day. It is only 9:00 in the morning, so I might start another one soon. Three in one day. That would be interesting. This one doesn't really count, it is just me complaining. I should reserve a special tag for those. That might be the largest group when I am done.

So it's goodbye from me and its goodbye from him.

Later

MWNews 277

 Back again, and yes, it is Tuesday. I didn't type on the weekend. I thought about it. Even got the keyboard out that I can actually type on, but I never got around to actually typing. I played Civilization. Not that I am good at it. I have only ever won once, but I enjoy it until about halfway through the game, then it becomes a slog and I never win. You think I would learn how to play better. I never do. I am not sure what that has to do with typing entries in here, other than it distracts me when I sit down to the home computer.

On out last episode, I think we were about to drive home from Rotorua. Speaking of Rotorua, I just heard that name in a podcast I listen to. It was about how dependant humans are on sulfur. I didn't really listen to it, but they mentioned Rotorua because apparently, people who live there do better on some type of mental tests. They said it was because of all the hot springs and that the town perpetually smells of sulfur. We noticed it and I had warned everyone about it before we left, but it was interesting to hear the report that it might be a good thing.

Next day, we got up fairly early, around 8, and were out of the house by 9:30. I had decided to drive back on a route that took us to the coast. It was just a brief tap of the coast before we headed back inland, but no one had ever been that way so we made a trip out of it. It was a pleasant drive, mainly because everyone slept most of the time. It was a nice road that went through some small mountains and along some river. We got to the coast and there was nothing there. Didn't keep us from staying for over an hour. We had some lunch, and then had to go to the chemist. I don't remember why. I got some more pain medicine and the girls looked at some perfume that was supposed to be exclusive to there, but I am not sure why we had to go to that chemist. And I only mention it because it was packed. I have no idea why. We had to park a long way away from it and walk back. I have no idea why so many people were there. It seemed kind of strange to me. There was nothing else in the town, or nothing we saw. Maybe we just didn't go down the right road, but it seemed like a pretty dead town. 

Anna and the boy decided they were not going to go with us to Wellington. We were to drop them off at their house. It was along the way, so we didn't mind. It was going to be easier for them because they would have to take a train back to their house the next day since we did not have time to take them back. I am told that is about a 3 hour train ride. 

Once we dropped them off, we had to take the original road we had planned on taking when we got there. You know, the one they had said was washed out. Now I have no idea how you rebuild a road in three days, but Anna said it happens all the time. Almost every time it rains, the road through the mountains is closed because parts of it has washed away. A regular occurrence I am told, and not just by Anna. Either they don't know what washed away means or they are really good a repairing the roads, in the mountains, very steep sides all the way up with no room for trucks or anything. 

I think they are making it up. I was not so sure about taking a road over the mountain that had been closed two days before, but we gave it a shot. It was very windy, and I am not sure that says windy as in twisted or windy and as in a lot of wind. Too lazy to make sure. I mean it was very twisty. And there was a lot of it. I think, to get there from where Anna lives to Wellington would be about a 20 minute drive if you didn't have to go over the mountain, it is not that far. But it takes about 2 hours on the road. Or maybe it was 2 hours to the place we were staying. It was on the other side of Wellington in a very steep part of town. Scary to drive in and out of the driveway, but we made it ok.

I won't go into the first night we were there. We didn't want to go back out, so we ordered Uber Eats. I have never ordered from Uber Eats before. Maeghan had to show me how to do it. I ordered way too much food and we ended up not getting to eat it all.

I was looking for a place to have breakfast the next day. We were planning on spending the day in town. I found something that was never expected to be in New Zealand. I found a Denny's. I have not been to Denny's in 30 years, maybe more. It was not a place we frequented in America but they had heard me talk about it on many occasions. I always say, let's go to Denny's when we are out at night, even there are no Denny's in Australia. I say it all the time. No place to go for late night, early morning food in Australia, or we have never found any. 

Wasn't that special, but now the kids can say they have been to Denny's.

We then went to the museum in Wellington. They had lots of different things. 5 or 6 floors worth. The first thing was a big tribute to the Anzac memorial. It was a long, very detailed accounting of what happened during the war. Lots and lots of exhibits. Juanita and William were not that impressed. They moved on pretty quickly. Maeghan and I saw everything. Spent way too much time in there. They have these very enlarged enactments of scenes from the war. Probably three or four times life size. Most of it was pretty interesting, but way too much to see. You could spend all day in there and not see it all. We probably spent and hour and a half, Maeghan and I. We only left because there was a lot of other things to see in the museum.

Most of the other stuff was interesting also, but since we had spent so much time in the war memorial, we kind of rushed through the rest. I would have liked to spend a whole day there, but Juanita and William were already restless. Maeghan and I went through the first 2 floors and then Maeghan went the the remaining floors while the rest of us had coffee in the coffee shop. The museum is worth the time, but you either spend all day there and see everything or just kind of wander through and miss a lot of it. I don't know if I would do it again, but it was worth the first time through.

After that, we just wandered around the town and hit up some shops. We also took the 'cable' car up the hill. Totally not worth it. It is a very short tide up the side of the hill on a tilted train. Maybe two blocks total from bottom to top. You could probably walk it faster. And there is nothing at the top. A gift shop, some houses, a restaurant sort of but it was closed when we were there so I have no idea if it is actually a restaurant or not. 

After that, we went and had steaks somewhere. I wanted our last meal to be good. Wasn't that good, but we didn't know that before we went. The next morning, we did have a wonderful breakfast on the water. Problem was, it was raining and heavy fog so we couldn't see anything, but it was a good breakfast. I have a couple of pictures in hear from there. We had the flight later that afternoon, so we had plenty of time. 

I guess that about raps it up for the New Zealand vacation. As I have said, probably the best vacation we have had. We did go to Airlie Beach a couple of times in the Whitsundays that would rival this vacation, but for the amount of stuff we did and the enjoyment we had doing it, this was still probably the best. We will go back to Airlie sometime, but probably won't be back in New Zealand. Something for years in the future, all depending on my health and wealth in retirement. 

That is going to be all. This has been way too long. I thought about cutting this entry into two more and giving some more details on what we had done, but I decided against it. If you made it this far, I must have put something in these that was more meaningful than I thought it was. 

As a quick side note. New Zealand was so good, I have honestly considered it a destination for retirement. Haven't looked into it much, but it might be something to think about. But I digress.

Until next time,

Later

MWNews 276

I've said it before and will probably say it again, but I am not as good a writer as I was before. I do ok, but these things used to have some very clever and amusing parts to them. I think some of that is missing these days, or it seems like they are. I am not sure if it is me, or maybe the kids are not as funny as adults, or maybe I realise it would be embarrassing if I wrote stuff about them like I used to. I don't know what it is. I know if I try to be funny, it never comes out right and I delete most of the funny parts. I used to not have to even try, but now, it is a little harder and doesn't come as easy as it once did. Probably just losing my fastball, but I still enjoy writing and this is something I really enjoy doing. The fact that I just published the last entry and started this one immediately after might indicate how much I like it. Or, I am just bored and not wanting to work anymore, so I do this in between classes. It's fun, and I expect to be doing a lot more of it when I retire. Might even start a book, but that seems a bit ambitious. I guess I will keep going, see where it takes me, and find out if it is all worth it. I hope the kids get enjoyment out of it someday. I know, since I have been back to the writing, no one is actually reading these anymore. I get a lot of views, so maybe they are, but nothing that it consistent or any kind of feedback on if they are actually good or not. Probably just people flying by in their search for something else. I don't mind. As I repeat over and over, it is for me and the kids. A remembrance of Daddy, I hope. I was here once and they are the only legacy I will ever have or need. 

Now I have a show to do.

Oh, and by the way, I just got a notice that Blogger is going to start enforcing some content rules soon, or maybe they already have. I have no idea what that means. They sent me a copy of the rules. I am wondering if they are going to object to my posting pictures of the kids. I know, from other things I have read, there are restrictions on what and where you can post pictures of kids. Even from the beginning, I have always worried about putting pictures of them in this. I know how people are these days and some of the things that could happen. I have always kept this semi-private and not gone the push for views route partly because I was worried about that. I am just wondering if now, Blogger is going to flag some of my entries. I guess we will find out. I thought I would mention it in case things started to change for no reason. I don't know what it might be, but it's possible I suppose. 

Once again, back to our regularly scheduled program.

We didn't get up early the next day, or they didn't. I think we got on our way around 9 or 10. First on the agenda was going to the downhill cart racing track. This is a little roadway built into the side of a hill that you take a cable car up to and then sit in the little carts and race down the hill. Didn't really need reservations for that, just show up, pay your money and ride down the hill. Turns out there were 5 different tracks you could go on, but I think one of them was closed. You can pay for sets of 1, 3 or 5 rides and you get to pick which track you want to go on. They all start from the same place and there are different exits you can turn off to go to the different tracks. 

I got the set of 3 rides for me, Maeghan, William, Anna, and the boyfriend. There was no way Juanita was going to go on it, so she stayed at the top to wait for us until we finished. There were a couple of restaurants and a gift shop up there, so there was something for her to do. Each ride only took about 5 minutes and then you had to take a ski lift back to the top. We would meet back with her after about 10 or 15 minutes and then go again.

It was fun, except for the ski lift part, which was terrifying.  William took off each time and raced down the hill as fast as he could go. The boyfriend kind of did the same thing so I was left to make sure Maeghan and Anna were ok. It was nice. The first time, we went down the scenic route. They had dinosaurs and cabins and other things to look at on the way down. The carts themselves were easy to drive, once you figured out how, so not a lot of problems. The only real problem occurred when I tried to get out. You are supposed to just stand up and step out, but they are so low to the ground, I had to crawl out sideways and then roll over to stand up. Several of the workers helped Maeghan each time, so that was good. 

On the last trip down, William and I decided to take the fast track. It was steeper and had many more turns. A big issue was if you did not turn correctly, your cart would dig into the pavement and slow you down, or in Williams case, flip you out of the cart. That happened when I passed him and he was trying to catch up. Got going to fast and did not make the turn. He crashed into the wall and flipped his cart over. I was long gone but could hear him yelling behind me. He wasn't hurt, but now he had a big story to tell to his mother, and everyone else, that he milked it for all it was worth. I think by the third or fourth telling, he had flipped the cart and did several barrel rolls down the track before coming to rest in a giant pit on the side of the road. I am sure it would have been exciting to watch.

All in all, the carts were really fun and if Anna and her boyfriend did not have a fight, it would have been a very pleasant experience. Another place I would recommend.

I think we went to lunch next, although we might have done that later. I only mention it because we went to Wendy's. Wendy's has just opened in Australia and they all love it. Especially, William. There was one on the way to the carts and we said we were going there before we left but I am not sure if we went after the carts or for dinner that night. Doesn't matter, I just thought I would mention it. We ended up not being that impressed. It just didn't have the same feel as the new one's in Brisbane. And, they were out of chili, so that was a big disappointment. Maeghan and I love the chili. It is even mild enough for Juanita, but they didn't have any. Very disappointing.

Our next adventure was the tree walk. This was on the other side of town, but since the town is not very big, it didn't take more than 10 minutes to get there.

The tree walk is just what it sounds like. They built a raised platform between the tall trees in some forest. Kind of like the one in Tasmania that we have been on before. This one was pretty good, or it was at least longer than the one in Tasmania ( I refuse to say Tassie, which is what they call Tasmania over here) but the scenery in Tasmania is much better. And the trees are much bigger and taller in Tasmania. This one, they have put art works and stuff in the trees and most of the walkways sway slightly. We were scared to walk across the really long sections. There was a cutout point where you could end your trek early and not go on the really tall and swingy bridges. Anna and the boyfriend opted for that, although I think the boyfriend wanted to continue with us. William and Juanita went ahead as Maeghan and I took our time with each crossing. They finished about half an hour before we did. 

Maeghan and I took about an hour and a half to complete the whole circuit. Juanita and William did it in about an hour. Anna finished the shortened version in about half an hour. Maeghan and I stopped several times to let people past and to sit and rest. It was a long trek, with lots of up and downs. We met several older people along the way. They were fascinated that I was from Texas and that Maeghan was 21 years old. They thought she was very brave to go all that way on her own until they found out she was a young adult. They stayed with us for a while but eventually, I think they went on ahead. 

Another fun time and again, I would recommend it if you are in the area. None of these things are what New Zealand is famous for. It is the long mountain hikes and scenic roads that most people go for when they are there, but those are kind of unavailable to us. Me with the heart thing and Maeghan with the wheelchair, but what we did do was very enjoyable and I would do it again if given the chance. It was a fun couple of days in Rotorua and we ended up fairly well exhausted each day. There are other things we would have liked to do, like the heated spas and stuff coming out of the local springs. I won't go into that as much but it is really what that area is famous for. That and the sulfur smell that permeates the town. There are other things, but with only two days, I think we got a lot of memories out of it. Maybe someday we will go back, but there are so many other places to go in the world, and I am so old, I don't see it happening. Maybe, but probably not.

We do still have the drive back the next day and our one day in Wellington. I have that for the next entry. I didn't really think I would be going into this much detail, four entries if you are lucky, but I just keep typing and it keeps getting longer. This one is too long. Time I closed it out. Since it is Friday, I won't be back until Tuesday. Maybe I will type at home. I have to start doing that at some point since I plan on retiring in the next year or so. For now, it is a way to pass the time when the students are in class.

Until next time,

Later

MWNews 275

I tried to think of a clever opening for this entry, but as you can tell, I didn't think of anything.

We left Hobbiton at around noon. We had an appointment to the caves at 3. It was about an hour away. We had the option of taking the canoes through the caves or taking the walking tour. We decided on the walking tour. There are several companies that do the tours. I have no idea which one is best or anything. I thought I had booked one place, but it turns out, I booked another. The one I thought I had booked had a restaurant and a gift shop in it. We went there first, only to find out our reservation was down the road a bit, near the start of the caves. 

There are several caves in the area. I am not sure if they are all connected or not. Since we seemed to be the only ones going on our tour, I don't know if the other groups went to different caves or were all on the water. It didn't really matter. Our tour was great. 

Since we had so much time, we went to our tour place, looked around, and then decided to return to the other place to have lunch before our tour started. It was only about 5 minutes up the road.

Lunch was ok, although everything we wanted, they seemed to be out of. We wanted a cheese plate, no cheese, a pizza, no pizza, some chili fries, no chili. We ended up just having a couple of orders of fries and I think something else, but I can't remember what it was. Wasn't bad, just wasn't what we wanted. 

Of course, we went through the gift shop. Juanita got a t-shirt. Maeghan got a poster or something. The rest of us just kind of waited for them to finish, or they waited, I had to hang around and pay for everything. Funny how that works.

The tour itself was pretty good. I had picked that one because it said it was wheelchair friendly. I am not sure what other paths there might have been, but this one was friendly except for one very tight squeeze. We made it, but not without some finagling. There were a couple of places where it was totally dark, where they turned off the lights for us and you could just hear the water running down below. What I assumed was far down below, but when they turned the lights back on and shined a flashlight over the side, it was about three feet away. Scared most of us as we didn't expect it to be that close. We did have one other encounter with the water when a group of kayakers went by far below us. We could talk to them and they to us but they were pretty far away. Good acoustics I guess. 

The highlight of the tour was something that is not normally part of it, or so I am told. The young lady who was our guide, and I say young but being as old as I am, everyone is young, she apparently was a singer. On the way back up, she sang a couple of songs. Long slow dirges, but she was pretty good and we enjoyed it immensely. She was that good. She went on a bit long when we were on the spiral walkway back to the entrance, but it made the walk a bit easier. She apparently couldn't walk up with us and sing at the same time, or maybe she had to wait at the bottom for some reason, but once we got to the top, we had to wait for her to climb up to let us out. 

It was a good tour, and I assume the other tours that other companies have are just as good. I would recommend going to the glow-worm caves if you get the chance. Well worth the drive from Rotorua, about an hour and a half from there. Hobbiton is about an hour but it takes you towards the caves, so that is why we did both in one day. A very good day and I must say it was planned very well, even if I did all the planning. 

We had another busy day planned for the next day. We didn't need to get up as early or travel very far, so it was a slow, see the sites and do some adventuring the next day. I was going to put it all in this one entry, but I think I will do the next day in the next entry. I know you are probably getting tired of this trip report, but we had fun. 

And, I believe, I can say this is the best trip we have ever had together. We have had some good times before and have done a lot of things that were enjoyable, but this one was a good trip. A bit short, I should have planned for 10 days instead of 7, but we were busy the whole time and were doing things constantly, even if part of it was driving back and forth. A good trip. I guess it is up to the others to say how good, but I had fun. And I haven't even talked about the next day. Maybe I should have put this paragraph at the end of the next entry. I probably will, so memorize it now and play it back again later.

But until next time, that's all for now.

Later