Beginnings

After we retired we talked about places we would like to visit.  There are many places in the world we would like to go see.  Two of those places are Fiji and New Zealand, however, we were not sure who would go with us. When we were in Minnesota visiting Greta's relatives two years ago, we happened to spend a couple of days with her cousin Sandy Pauly and her husband, Dave.  We mentioned we were thinking about going to those two places and they wistfully said they sure would like to do that.  So, we said they could go with us when we put it together.  Last fall I reserved a place to stay in Fiji and tentativily in New Zealand and emailed them saying that I had done so and asked if they were ready to go.  They resoundingly said "Yes!".  So for the past year we have been reading the Lonely Planet books on Fiji and New Zealand and working with a travel agent to plan out our trip.  Now we are within a few days of going and are getting pretty excited about it.  We will spend 10 days in Fiji and then go to New Zealand for 4 1/2 weeks.  Here is our itinerary:

Fiji/New Zealand Itinerary

10/20/12  5:00pm Depart Portland for Los Angeles
                11:30pm Depart Los Angeles for Fiji
10/22/12   5:10am Arrive in Nadi, Fiji



 10/27/12   9:00am Depart via sea  vessel for Matamanoa Island
10/29/12  10:30am Return to Nadi
11/01/12    8:45am Depart Fiji for   Auckland
                 12:50pm Arrive in Auckland
11/03/12     9:00am Drive to Bay of Islands
11/10/12    Drive back to Auckland
                  12:05 flight to Queenstown
                    Drive to Wanaka
11/12/12      Drive to Te Anau
11/13/12      Drive to Milford Sound and back to Wanaka
11/17/12      Drive to Franz Josef
11/19/12      Drive to Westport
11/20/12      Drive to Nelson
11/24/12      Drive to Wellington
11/25/12      Drive to Lake Taupo
11/26/12      Drive to Rotorua
11/28/12      Drive to Auckland
11/29/12      2:15pm  Depart NewZealand
                    4:05pm  Arrive in Fiji
                  10::50pm Depart Fiji
                    1:05pm  Arrive in Los Angeles
                    5:00pm Depart for Portland
11/29/12     7:15 Arrive in Portland

There are some planned events such as snorkeling in Fiji, visiting a glow worm cave in Te Anau, traveling on Milford Sound, and visiting a Maori village in Rotorua.  But as you can see, there will be a lot of time for spontaneous events and putsing around the various places we visit.  Sounds like fun to us!