Feb 8

Thursday, February 8

Josh was scheduled to have an 11:00 meeting with Dr. Openshaw and Dr. Edwards today. About 7:45 am, Dr. Openshaw called to say that the meeting was canceled because Dr. Edwards was in Auckland. Well, that opened up the day.

But first, the trash had to be taken out. Josh lost rock, paper, sissors so he had to take the recycables out to the curb. When you're paying $1.00 per trash bag (special for Palmerston North residents) why throw out a trash bag if it's not completely full. This week we didn't have a full bag of trash, so Josh just put out the cardboard, glass, and plastic bags.

The phone rang again and it was Bernice checking in on us. She asked if we were going to the Rotary club meeting that night (Josh said no because we'll be presenting on the 22nd). She also wanted to say that she and David would be leaving for their trip to Queenstown on the South Island on Saturday the 10th. They'll be back on the 17th. Josh told her we were thinking about heading up to Lake Taupo in the center of the North Island since we had a free weekend. Bernice said that they have a family home that we can stay at if we give her more notice when we go up to Lake Taupo again.

So, Josh and I had a decision. Lake Taupo on Thursday and Friday or Fri.-Sun. We decided to go up on Friday because it was getting late on Thursday if we still needed to pack and all.
I looked at the resort on Lake Taupo that we could cash in our credit card points for a free stay. It was 10,000 points per night and we had almost 80,000 points. The hotel suites looked nice and had a kitchen and patio, however, part of me said that Lake Taupo is just a lake and I've been to lakes before, maybe we should save the points for a resort north of Auckland at the Bay of Islands or in Queenstown. Josh said we should wait until the following weekend for his birthday but the rooms were not available that weekend. Anyway, if we were going, we should go this weekend while we had the time available. I cashed in 20,000 points and made the reservation.

We spent the day hanging out watching the Angel DVDs...they're so good. I applied for a part-time job at Universal College of Learning as a part-time International Student Co-ordinator (a bit ironic being an international person myself but it's a job I'd like to have back home).

Later that night, Josh and I took a walk in the Victoria Esplanade to feed the ducks the remaining piece of bread that was getting slightly moldy. We love the walk across the cricket fields (large, flat green space) into and through the trees to reach the rose gardens that lead to a palm tree lined street that takes you to the duck pond. I made the walk barefoot to try to pass for a local.

By breaking up one piece of bread, Josh and I were able to coax a large number of ducks out of the pond and onto the grass at our feet. Another couple showed up and they had a tiny gray kitten which I really wanted to take home with me. No such luck. Back to the house to get ready for Lake Taupo tomorrow.