A Gem of an idea

Well its happened, we (4 of us) have now booked our flights to New Zealand for November 2007. Its a round trip starting at Heathrow on the 1st November hitting Singapore first for 3 days, followed by the next leg to Christchurch , New Zealand on the South Island. But before I cover too much of the intinery I had better introduce the 'we'.

There's my good self to be known as Ken throughout this journey, accompanied by my good lady wife of 35 years, namely June; me being Welsh and June being Scottish. Joining us on this epic voyage will be Arthur and Susan, both Welsh and still living in the green green grass of home, and close to Swansea our home town. To complicate matters from the start June and I will be leaving from Scotland while Arthur and Sue from Wales.

The idea started more than 12 months ago at one of our annual get togethers where the wine flowed freely and the ideas spilled forth. Unfortunately 2006 was out as both parties had commitments to see other folks in the USA and South Africa. However, it was agreed that a trip of this magnitude was worth waiting for and so began the planning process.

On a visit to Wales in March 2006 we all 4 called into Cardiff for the day and looked at the options being offered by the various Travel Agents arming ourselves with a plethora of travel magazines and brochures. Later on in the same year on a visit to Edinburgh by the 'Team' again on a retail therapy outing we came across 'Austravel' specialising in trips to Australia and New Zealand. Further armed with more brochures and even a DVD we had along with the internet more than enough information to begin 'The Plan'.