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| Colorful apartment building. |
When we arrived in New Plymouth 15 days ago, we’d expected wifi to be available when we arrived. This wasn’t the case and we had no choice but to head to a local phone store, purchase a device and load lots of expensive data.
To date, we’ve spent NZ $593, US $388 in fees in order to have access to the Internet, an expense we hadn’t anticipated. Don’t get me wrong…the owners are very kind, caring people and we’ve greatly appreciated their efforts and attention to detail.
They had no idea it would take so long to get service, assuming only a day or two. They’d tried arranging it over the holidays but couldn’t get a date pinned down. We have no doubt they tried. But, like many areas of the world, not everything happens according to a schedule one would prefer.
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| Ornate house on a corner. |
Actually, we feel bad as to how much pressure we’ve placed on them as the WiFi bill continues to rack up expense day after day. Yesterday, I paid the bill when Spark had set up an account for us to be paid on a monthly basis, not requiring a 12-month contract.
Yesterday, Trish stopped by with an extra fan (without our asking) since we’ve been hauling the one fan we had up and down the stairs every day. Although the air is relatively cool here during these summer months, the roof is metal making the interior of the house very hot on sunny days.
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| St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in downtown New Plymouth, another historic building. |
We’ve decided to keep the doors open welcoming the cool breezes most days and deal with the flies. They aren’t biting flies and seem fairly easy to swat with the flyswatter we purchased. They are considerably less prevalent on cooler windy days. By dinner time, we close the doors, kill the flies and have dinner, preferring no flies are buzzing our food. This plan seems to be working.
After handing me the fan, Trish explained she’d heard from Vodafone who are to arrive today. We had an appointment with June for today and had planned to grocery shop after we were done. We immediately contacted June apologizing and kindly asking we change the date. She was happy to make a change.
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| Contemporary houses overlooking the ocean. |
In the process, we decided to postpone the grocery shopping until Thursday, after Tom’s 10:15 dentist appointment. We have enough food on hand for Wednesday’s meals. Goodness, we haven’t had “appointments” to speak of other than our medical exams while in Australia.
We’ve loved having a simple life with the avoidance of planning instead, waiting until we “feel like” doing something. Now, we have three dinner reservations looming for Valentine’s Day, my birthday, and our anniversary, Tom’s dental appointments, and the meeting with June.
Has our free-spirited lifestyle taken a break while we’re here in convenient New Zealand with everything we could possibly need or want at our fingertips? There’s even a movie theatre here playing current US movies at NZ $10, US $6.55 for seniors. Perhaps, we’ll give it a try on a rainy day.
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| Modern-style houses and apartments. |
The last time Tom and I attended a movie together was in the theatres on cruise ships or watching on the huge screen out by the pool. But attending an actual movie theatre?
The last time I attended a movie, Interstellar, was with my son Greg in December 2014 in Hawaii when the family visited us on the Big Island. Both of my sons and I always enjoyed attending movies together, especially back in my popcorn eating days, long since passed.
Seldom, do we have access to an English-speaking movie theatre. Seldom, do we make appointments, locking ourselves into dates and times for specific events, other than on travel days.
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| The main thoroughfare, Eliot St., in downtown New Plymouth heads out to the ocean. |
As much as parts of our lives may require an abundance of planning and preparation for the next leg of the journey, the next year and oftentimes, two years out, our daily lives are simple and uncomplicated. Somehow, it all works.
When all is said and done, we’re blissfully happy. Having accomplished that single feat in life is more than either of us ever expected during these “golden years” of our lives.
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| On Valentine’s night, we have a dinner reservation at Table Restaurant as shown on the right of this photo. |
Isn’t that our ultimate desire…happiness, seemingly elusive and yet once a decision is made to become happy…we often find the opportunities to do so right at our fingertips? We’re truly blessed and grateful for finding it and will continue to hang on tight for as long as we can.
May your day bring you happiness.
Photo from one year ago today, February 3, 2015:
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| We attended the Super Bowl party at the Makai Golf Club in Kauai last year having a great time meeting more friendly people and enjoying a Mexican buffet. For more photos and details, please click here. |