Andrea and I don’t get to take vacations. We’ve rarely been away from the house for more than a week in the 16 years we’ve been together, but last year the opportunity presented itself and we spent two weeks in Hawaii.

Hawaii was kind of the consolation prize. We had originally planned to go to New Zealand over Thanksgiving (it is spring there at that time) but when I tried to book the seats in March using frequent flyer miles, all of the seats were unavailable.

So I got smart and booked a trip this year back in December. The seats become available 330 days in advance and that’s when I called. They routed us from RDU to Dallas, Dallas to LA, LA to “naughty” and “naughty” to Auckland.

I said, hey, I don’t mind going to “naughty” on my holiday, but where the heck is it? It turns out that Nadi is the major airport for Fiji. Since I’d never been to Fiji I asked if it was possible for us to stay there for a couple of days before going on to New Zealand. They said no problem, so Fiji got added to our trip.

We leave here tomorrow around noon and, if the plane gods are willing, will land in Nadi about 5:15am on Monday, local time (it’s 16 hours ahead of Eastern time). We’ll be picked up and taken by car and then boat to a place called Navini Island. It looks perfect: small, eco-friendly and no children. Plus it was a fraction of the cost of Turtle Island, which is the more famous resort. I was hoping to stay at the Marriott (since I have gobs of points with them) but due to the coup a couple of years ago it isn’t completed.

We’ll stay there until Thursday morning when, after breakfast, we’ll head back to Nadi to wander around for a bit before the 5 hour flight to Auckland.

Since we shaved about a week off our trip with the island stay, we decided to limit ourselves to the north island of New Zealand in order not to spend the whole trip on a plane. We’re going to stay three nights at a B&B in Auckland and find stuff to do there, and then we drive down to Taupo to stay at another B&B. This will be the first time I’ve driven on the left side of the road, so wish me luck.

Along the way we’re going to stop for a few hours in Hamilton. Through my OpenNMS blog one guy saw that I was coming and wanted to meet me. It should be cool to get a local flavor and some suggestions on what to do.

We’re going to Taupo in order to go trout fishing on Monday and Tuesday. Our guide described the trip:

Day one fish the lower Whanganui or Whakapapa river. – These are great rivers with a high catch rate of rainbow trout with the chance to catch the occasional large brown. These rivers are made up of bouldery sections and shingle runs and are ideal for novices.

From here we would travel to Whangaipeke farm stay. Not far from where we would be fishing. We would be staying in the old shearers quarters which have been tidied up. This is an ideal location right beside the upper Whanganui river. Chance to fish the evening rise and even see glow worms. The accommodation is fairly basic but comfortable and the location makes it a real pleasure. The shearers quarters has full bathroom facilities and a double bed that will be made up for you. The farmers wife Sonja will make us a two course meal for dinner.

On the Second day we would fish the Upper Whanganui river( a favourite of mine). This is exclusive access to the river which fishes superbly. A true wilderness river I am sure you will enjoy. This is located right where the river runs from the Tongariro National park. Is some of the best river fishing in the North Island.

Return to Taupo at the end of the day.

It should be fun and I can put my one fly-casting lesson to use.

On Wednesday we head to another B&B in Rotorua. Along the way we plan to go sphereing at Zorb, where the sport started. This is where they put you in a huge hamster ball and roll you down a hill. Sweet.

Thursday is a driving day. We’re going to head down to Wellington which is about six hours away, stopping if we see something interesting. Our last B&B stay will be two nights, and we’ll spend Friday wandering around.

Saturday it’s time to head back home. Wellington to Auckland, Auckland to Nadi, Nadi to LA (where we have a 12 hour layover spent mainly in a Marriott Courtyard sleeping), LA to Dallas and Dallas home, arriving Sunday morning.

I’ll probably need a vacation from my vacation by that point. We had originally planned to be home late Saturday night, but the flight times got changed and we miss the decent connection in LA.

Lot’s of pictures and stories when we get back.