We are now down to the final countdown toward our trip to New Zealand and Australia. In less than two weeks we will be flying out of Portland Oregon and many hours and a couple of days later arriving in Auckland New Zealand! Some very disturbing things have happened since early September, as we all know. Because of the terrible tragedy in New York all the plane schedules have been changed, as I am sure many of you have already found out. Therefore, we will leave Portland early in the morning on December 7 and arrive in Auckland New Zealand in the afternoon of December 9. But we are sure that all the flying will be well worth it once we are there.

How do you pack for a flight of that length and for a trip of five weeks to follow? This is something that has been bothering me since we decided to make this trip. I have never been a person to travel light. When I go out for the day I always have at least one backpack with me as well as my purse so for this trip I am going to have to do some careful planning. I talked with my niece who travels a lot for business and she has given me a lot of pointers. We went through my wardrobe together and picked the clothes that I was determined I must take. We started with one outfit and worked everything around that color. Black is the predominant color I have chosen and everything else must then center around that. Each item must be able to be worn with most of the other items so that I can wear different outfits but use the same clothes. This also eliminates the need for multiple pairs of shoes in different colors. After checking the weather in December and January I will be eliminating some of the heavy items I had chosen, as it should be in the 80s and 90s most of the time. Don't forget this is summer "down under" and the height of the tourist season.

As Lynn and Louise have visited before they were able to advise us to take some foodstuffs with us that we feel we cannot be without as there are not always the same items that we are used to in the grocery stores. They have big grocery stores as we do but, of course, as the tastes of the people are different there, not all food items available. The same is true when you travel to different states in the USA. So we will be bringing some food items with us that we feel we cannot live without. Also we are bringing the individual coffee bags to make cups of coffee for ourselves as the coffee there is not to most Americans liking. Keep in mind when traveling it is important to have an open mind and try the specialties from the area you are in, but it is also nice to have some familiar things that you enjoy with you also.

The packing for the flight itself, while much easier, also required some thought. We will need to wear clothes that are comfortable because of the length of the trip but also will need to take extra clothes so that we can refresh ourselves during the flight. I have decided a sweatsuit will be the most comfortable for me to fly in with a long sleeved shirt underneath so I can take off the sweatshirt if the plane is warm. In our carry-on luggage I will bring changes of underwear and shoes for both of us and cooler shirts for when we arrive in Australia. We must make sure that we are as comfortable as possible because the flight itself will be hard enough.

After all the planning regarding wardrobe it was now time to plan what activities we could not miss during our vacation. That was the fun stuff! Lynn and Louise and Mike and I sat down with all the e-mails from people that Louise had been corresponding with and picked some of the things that we were able to do in the time available. When you talk of a trip of five weeks it seems that there will be time for everything but we soon found that the time goes very quickly when there is so much to see and do.

In New Zealand we are planning to travel on both islands and the ferry is already booked between the two islands as it is very busy at that time of year. We have found a wonderful train trip from Christchurch to Greymouth and back that takes all day and we hope to be able to take that on Christmas Day. This will give the guys the chance to enjoy the scenery without having to drive the campervans for a day and we thought it would be a nice way to spend Christmas Day so far from home.

We are also planning another day trip from Queensland to Doubtful Sound that includes a bus trip and two boat rides as well as a tour of a power plant. That will be a long day but we are sure that it will be worth the effort. Doubtful Sound is near Milford Sound and is supposed to be as spectacular so we are looking forward to that.