I was having chest pains when I would go to bed combined with belching for an hour or so. This went on for about six weeks. I was certain that it wasn't a heart problem and since I was just given an all-clear as to ulcers I thought it might be a lung infection, but struck me as funny since it was just the left lung area. I have a lot of lung viruses - every cold and flu seems to end up there. But finally, after one particularly bad night when I didn't sleep at all I decided to see someone. It being a Sunday I called an emergency clinic and they suggested that I go straight to a hospital. So we did and it was very quiet so I got right in, had the checks which proved all was well. So best guess was that it was reflux. The earlier trip to have the gastroscope showed scratches on my lower esophagus. I tend to think that it was the tube they put down that irritated things, since the pains began shortly after that visit. Anyway, I'm fine now. This is a great country. Last year there were no charges for medical. But this year its user pays. So for the emergency ward, EKG, X-rays and all the other tests while I was in for four hours being observed we had a whopping bill of $31. The maximum one pays is $50/night up to $500/yr per family. Dead cheap compared to the States, still a major cry from NZers that they now have to pay so much. In fact, about 60% refuse to pay and hospitals have to send out debt-collectors

During the Sept school holidays we loaded the van with Whites and Maleceks and headed off for the center of the island. We stopped in Roturua to show them the main tourist spots. From there we went to Awakeri Hot Springs where we had two units: one for the adults and one for the kids. Soon as we unpacked we were in the hot pool for an hour's soak. Next day we brought Renee and Tracy into neighboring Whakatane where they stayed overnight with two girls they met at the New Kids concert. Meanwhile the rest us drove to Kawerau and climbed Mt. Edgecombe. Took us about 90 minutes to reach the top (3000 ft) where we had lunch at the crater lake (its a volcano). Unfortunately, rain was coming so we were within clouds and couldn't see anything. So we are just going to have to climb that sucker again. We got back to the van just as the rain hit - it turned into a monster thunderstorm complete with lightning that chased us back to camp. We hired a spa, which are built inside huge water tanks and the spa itself had no trouble handling the seven of us tired trampers.

On the way home next day we stopped at Kaiate waterfalls for lunch and did a short hike along the falls until rain chased us back to the van. Did I tell you that we had a lot of rain last winter. But that doesn't stop us. In fact, there had been so much rain that we heard that our local falls at Hunua were three times larger than normal, so a couple weeks later there I was climbing another trail to reach the top of the falls. Yes, they were the most spectacular we have ever seen them in the 25 years we have been going to that area of bush.

A few friends had been going to pub trivia for sports and doing well. Then one week they decided to try the music evening and came last. So they said "we need Malecek". I got the call and said try to stop me. It was a tough night with a lot of obscure stuff, but we managed to come in third, win our entry fee back and got a few beers. I had a good time and have even begun to put together a tape of my own songs for when it is our turn to be quizmasters.

Then I was invited to join a Trivia team in Waiuku. Ne and I went along one night for a contest against a lively bunch - popcorn fights and a lot of friendly rubbishing of other teams. We got a prize for having the youngest average age and one for having members from the most countries (Whites: Ian-Scotland, Tracy-Fiji and me-Austria).