NEW ZEALAND - DAY 4

Thursday, March 21 (Wednesday Idaho Time)
Today we left Paihia and headed south.  We stopped by a tourist attraction "Glow Worm Cave".  Virgil introduced himself to George who said he would not enjoy the attraction.  The two talked for awhile and we left.  The Kiwi and Virgil hit it off well.  As we left, the Kiwi said, well, we swapped a yarn or two.  I think Virgil would have been fine to have stayed and visited with him while I went on the tour, but I opted not to.

We arrived in Hamilton about 3ish.  We checked into a room at the Colonial City Motel and received our complimentary milk.  The lady at the desk gave us a menu and said if we would return it to the desk before 6:00 p.m., our breakfast would be delivered to our room.

 The room was up some steep stairs which were a challenge for Virgil.  Once in the room, Virgil laid down to rest.  The room was so small we had to put the trash can in a closet so we would have a place to put our suitcases.  They tried to cram too many things in a small space - fridge, stove, sink, desk and bed in a room that should have had only a bed.  The shower had wonderful water pressure though.  The problem was that it was about a 10 inch step up to get into the shower and the shower head was about shoulder level.

We decided to go to the Temple so we dressed and headed off to the Temple.  I had asked the lady at the desk if she knew where the LDS Temple was located.  She said, "Oh Yes.  I'm not religious but I go there and just sit in my car sometimes because it is so peaceful.  I don't know what it is, I just know it is a peaceful place."

We arrived at the Temple and again, people just took over taking care of Virgil.  We we dressed by 5:00, but the session didn't begin until 6:30.  I was asked if I would like to do some other ordinances, which, of course, I did.  I had the privilege of doing work for five sisters and Virgil was able to do ordinances for two.  We then met in the Assembly Room and went to the Ordinance Room at about 6:25.  The people were so wonderful, and the temple is beautiful.  A sister asked if I would like to do thework for one of her ancestors.  Of course I said yes and thanked her for the opportunity. She smiled and said, "You can say you did work for a Maori."

We completely missed lunch and supper, so we returned to our room around 9:00 p.m. thinking we would have trail mix for supper.  There on the counter was our breakfast.  Cereal, juice, bowl of fruit, toast, jelly and jam.  Two little pitchers of milk were in the refrigerator.  We were pleased with that and had it for supper.  I saved my bowl of fruit and two pieces of toast to have for breakfast the next morning.