We've Arrived in NZ

After about 30 hours of travel we have made it to Trout Beck Fishing Lodge near Turangi NZ on Lake Taupo. Our flight from DFW to LAX was very enjoyable. We flew Virgin America for the first time and we both were very impressed with the service and updated plane. Our Air New Zealand flight from LAX to Auckland went well. There was a bit of turbulance for a few hours toward the end of the flight, but we did manage to get some sleep and were happy throughout the flight. Once we landed we got thruogh customs without any issues and caught a cab to pick up our car. Last year we rented a used car from Rent-A-Dent which was easy, so we did the same this time. We got a VW Polo, which is the smallest car we've ever driven. It is hillarious to watch Dave drive, because he looks so huge in the tiny hatchback. It is a four seater, and much bigger than a smart car or Fiat, but it is still much smaller than what we are used to. It was comparable to playing Tetris trying to fit all of our luggage in the car. We took the 7'6" fishing pole out of the case and it just barely fit from rear hatchback window to front windshield. There certainly isn't any room for anything else.  We had about a 4.5 hour drive south from the airport to the B&B we are staying at for a few days. We stayed here last summer to flyfish, and we had a really great time and established a friendship with the owners. Since Dave is going to be busy sportfishing the rest of the time we are here, we decided if we were gong to do any flyfishing, we better squeeze it in at the begininning of our trip. So rather than drive north to the Bay of Islands, we drove south to catch trout. We arrived totally exhausted, but happy to be here. A shower and a good meal is an extra wonderful thing after traveling for that long!