Dad has been moved back to the hospital in hometown in Central Otago so the family all went up at the weekend. It was fun seeing the neighbours again, I ran into an old schoolfriend who is now raising alpacas. It's getting late in the year for fresh fruit, but I bought some apples and preserved greengages from a roadside stall.

For Mother's Day, sis insisted we all go for lunch in Queenstown. We visited a vineyard with a winery and restaurant attached. As it is between seasons the price was not so bad, NZ22.95. Queenstown is very popular with overseas tourists, but to my mind it is very expensive and not at all typical Kiwi. There is no denying it is very beautiful, tho, and if I ever win lotto and have perfect health, I will buy a lakeside apartment there and spend the rest of my days bungy jumping, skiing and white water rafting.

We looked at some resthomes in the area for dad and found one very nice little one. I think it would be very nice for dad to stay there as long as he can, tho he may eventually have to be moved to a veteran's hospital in the city.

We also talked to the lawyer and a real estate agent about the house. We have had an offer of $200,000 from a builder, but it is obvious he only wants to subdivide the section, so we figured the back lot could be sold for $100,000, to help pay for dad's care, and the house with an eighth acre can be kept for the family to use when they come to visit. That is worth another $190,000, and we will gradually do it up as it is rather neglected. House values are unlikely to drop in the area as it is popular with developers, so by the time it needs to be sold, it should be worth quite a bit.

Altogether I spent about $100, including buying some pillows and towels for dad's house, but it was worth it.