Well, we’ve finally settled on the dates for our return to “The Last Best Place”. Originally the plan was to return spring (ours) of 2011…probably mid-February through mid-April. We wanted to see a season that we had not experienced before. Sadly, those plans were dashed when I decided to make a bunch of money instead.
I had been fairly successful at staving off work for months, but an opportunity to take on a very complex, year-long project presented itself. The project was so interesting that I couldn’t turn it down.
Unfortunately, the FAA placed the project into their “we’ll get to it when we get to it” national inbox. The crux of the problem here is that BBJs are bought by people with more money than god (and almost as much as an Arab). This seems to give them a hearing impediment whenever they hear the word “no”. It just sort of registers as an annoying buzzing in the ear. So, after five months of work, the project was taken away from me, sent to the Right coast and reassigned to a company who “don’t need no stinking FAA”. Major disappointment, but only because it screwed our plans for the NZ trip. Cynthia has to give at least 4 months notice in order to train up someone who can limp along in her absence, and we were past that point. On to plan B.
The new dilemma was to decide when to go. Cynthia still wanted to see their Fall, but that was a whole ‘nother year! We settled on November through mid-January, due to numerous factors. That’s pretty much the same season we went last time, but if we included the Boeing Xmas break we could squeak out 10 weeks instead of 8.
After corresponding with a couple kiwis, there were other contributing factors. Trout season opens 1 October, but NZ is hosting the Rugby World Cup this year; September through October. They anticipate “tens of thousands” of fanatics will traipse around all over the country, chasing after the teams to the 13 different venues, and "seeing the sights" between matches (is it matches or games?). So October was out. In fact, if NZ Customs learned that we are not Rugby fans we would not be allowed into the country.
Other factors included the facts that miniature kiwis are out of school for summer break from Dec 23 through the first week of February, and February is the most crowded month for “feriners’, hence the greatest density of Nebraskans on the rivers and Germans in the woods. However, on the plus side February is the most settled (weather-wise) and most of the sand flies have died off from the heat. But by February, the trout have all been flogged nearly to death so are even harder to catch than usual. So we’ll brave the rain and wind (again) in exchange for fewer humanoids.
