Gisborne Here We (do not) Come!

We had a very busy two days the end of the week, so I was not looking forward to another very busy weekend. Elder Saunders wanted to visit Gisborne  to sort out a couple of flats and take some supplies down. We were going to go through Rotorua and Whakatane and drop of more supplies. We had planned to stay in the flat in Whakatane, which we are now nicknaming as our holiday home, for one night. There have been no missionaries living there for nearly four months. We have cleaned it up spotlessly and were expecting a senior couple to move in soon. But their visas did not come through in time and they have now been reassigned to Canada. Saturday night we had planned to stay in Gisborne but when I phoned up to book a motel I was told that there was no availability and probably none anywhere in town. There was a surfing competition on that weekend and the place was crazy with a lot of people around. So we decided that we would stay in Whakatane for two nights. Now that will be a more restful weekend.  We tried calling the Branch President on Friday night hoping to meet up with him and his family but kept getting an engaged signal. So Saturday when we were giving the missionaries their second hand arm chairs (don’t tell the President) I double checked their number and I had dialled it wrong. So thankfully I contacted President Waihirere and arranged to meet them at lunch time. We spent a great afternoon eating, chatting, walking the beach and getting very wet from a rather fast and furious wave.

 

The best beef burger I've had in New Zealand