Critters...

The following day we all had a leisurely morning. Then Tim and I bused over to the house and gathered up Josephine, Landy and Paul and we set off for the Wellington SPCA. Tim and I have been volunteering there for several months now and love every minute of it! Normally, Tim and I bus out to the shelter from school but there seemed to be no good bus route from the rental house. In the end we decided to walk. The path took us through some neighborhoods, Haitaitai Park, up through a section of forest and finally onto the road leading up the hill to the SPCA.

Upon arrival we made a beeline for the puppies because, I mean, you have to start there. :) We were allowed into the pens and spent some time playing with the pups. As you can see from the photos Josephine was right at home and even spent some time with a puppy on her lap - precious.

After that we made our way over to the Dog House where Tim spends his volunteer hours. Most of the dogs have their own "room" or share one with a "puppy friend" and it can be very challenging trying to get into the "room" while keeping the bouncing canines in there at the same time. Watching Tim you immediately can see that Tim's done this hundreds of times - he had no trouble wrangling the pups so he and Josephine could go in to say hi. Next, we made our way over to the Cat Run and visited many a cat and kitten before swinging through the Small Animal area where we saw some birds, bunnies and turtles. Then it was time for Tim to work his shift so we said our goodbyes. He headed over to the Dog House and we started on our way back to the house.

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing games and reading. Josephine and I squared off in an intense game of Memory. In the end we lost interest before finishing the game and I have to admit it was tricky remembering so many cards. Ah, cognitive resources - it was nice knowing you. :)

That evening Paul, Linda, Ange, Landy, Josephine and I bused into town and stopped at a park on Oriental Parade (right on the water). This was Josephine's number one request during the trip: "Can we go to the park now?". :) So we spent about an hour running around, taking photos and then we walked the rest of the way around the waterfront to Mac's Brewbar where we met Tim for dinner.