A Confluence

Confluence: a coming together of people or things; concourse. A number of unrelated events have conspired to make this all happen and I'm delighted with the way things have worked out.

I retired from IBM and started into this next chapter. And now that the local cycling scene is in winter mode I have downtime.

Andrea... well more on that later.

Knowing that this might be a once in a lifetime opportunity I suggested she take a break and take an extended vacation. "What would we do with all that time in January" she thought... and then said "what about going to New Zealand?". Great idea!

About the same time I discovered the youngest of the Canadian Kraiker clan (my nephew Brendan) and his partner Jenna were on a major trip that had them spending the better part of a year in New Zealand. The wonders of Facebook. Here are a couple of shots they have online...

Jenna

Brendan

Then I found out that they work at Lucky Rental, one of the many companies that rent campers in NZ!

Well... all of this came together to have me book a New Zealand Air flight to Auckland on January 1st 2012 with a "Cruiza" hightop camper booked for 27 days and a return flight on February 1st. That was my day yesterday...

The Cruiza was originally one that Jucy rented out, here's a video they put on YouTube showing the setup. Still figuring out the logistics of bringing bikes, swim gear, and all the other things that might make that month more enjoyable. Very exciting!