Auckland We traded 28 degrees and sun for 13 degrees and rain in going from Fiji to Auckland. We found our driver to take us to our hotel, the Sebel Auckland Viaduct Harbour. It is nice not having to figure out transportation from a new airport in a city we don’t know. The hotel is right downtown but on the water in an area that is full of restaurants and shops.

Fiji - Market Tour and Cooking Class This was one of those experiences, that will likely be one of the highlights of our trip. I’m not exactly sure how I found these folks, it might have been through TripAdvisor. Flavours of Fiji is the only cooking school in Fiji. It’s has been operating for six years. We were picked up at our hotel by Ajay and Leah for the first part of our day; a trip to the market.

Day one; Settling in and Cultural Dinner Our flight from LAX was uneventful. It was a bit long, but one advantage of leaving L.A. At 11:00 P.M., is that the entire flight is over night. We did get a bit of rest (as much as one can get in an economy seat), and arrived in Fiji at about 6:00 A.M. Deanna had heard that customs and immigration could be long, but that wasn’t the case for us.

Travel Day to Fiji We’re off! It’s a great way to celebrate Deanna’s birthday with our month long trip to Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. We decided to break up the long flight a bit by stopping in Fiji. It’s only 11.5 hours from L.A. Instead of 13 or so to Australia. Our friend RIck drove us to the airport, which from our place in the country is no small ask.

Fiji, New Zealand and Australia Deanna and I are taking advantage of the fact I’m not working at the moment to head to a couple of countries in Oceania. This trip has been high on the bucket list for a while and we’re heading off for much of the month of April. Deanna did a bunch of research and had a general idea of the kinds of things we wanted to do.

Thursday We decided to get a rental car for a couple of days. There were a few folks that went to a water park, not too far from our location yesterday. I tried to connect with them to get a ride but that didn’t happen. We asked at the front desk at the hotel and they suggested a company that would drop a car off for us. As promised, at 10:00 they arrived with a car and within a few minutes, Deanna had some keys and we’re ready to go.

Sunday We awoke and went for breakfast at our hotel. It was quite a spread with pretty much anything one could want. Deanna bought some postcards to send home to the nieces and nephew. We attempted to take the bus to Kolymvari which is where our original hotel (and the conference was being held). There was a schedule posted in the lobby of the hotel but after waiting for a bit and having what looked like one bus pass us by without stopping, we opted to take a cab.

Saturday Today we travelled from Germany to Crete. It was a fairly painless trip but having had local folks take care of us for the first part of the week was a bit jarring to have to figure out travel plans from Stuttgart central to the airport. It turns out not to be a big deal, but a few hints: Tickets to the airport from the central station can only be purchased from the ticket machines.

Friday Our all too short visit with Dana and Cedric came to a close today. Deanna and I are sad to be leaving. In a short period of time, I feel like they have become good friends. We started the day with a good old Canadian breakfast of pancakes, sausages and maple syrup. Nice to have a bit of taste of home. Dana was waiting for a call from her Doctor.

Thursday Today we headed to the mountain town of Zermatt. Anyone who skis has heard of Zermatt and the Matterhorn. It’s about 90 minutes from Sion. It’s not possible to drive in the town, we arrived in Täsch which has a huge new car park bought train tickets to take us up the mountain to the town of Zermatt. It’s a short 12 minute train ride to the town of Zermatt.