In search of the elusive kokapo.

Every trip needs its theme, a raison d'être (reason for being). It could be as simple as a cycling trip to get you out of the gym and back to training on the bike in the Spring. Or maybe it's been on your bucket list for years.

Kath and I had such a great time in Australia last January, that visiting New Zealand was an easy choice to break up the dark days of winter this year It is a long flight, but no one has ever told me they regretted visiting the Kiwis.. But I still needed a goal, a theme. Then it appeared this morning in an email from a friend warning us to “watch out for the kakapo” the endangered flightless parrot which, he warned us, has been known to “eat windshield wipers and the rubber off tires.”

And there it was, our mission, the goal for the trip. Last year it was finding a Tasmanina Devil.  And we managed to find one. As we explore the North and South Islands of New Zealand, we'll keep an eye out for the elusive bird.

We leave in a few days (I'm hoping the government shutdown doesn't muck up things on our Seattle to Vancouver connection) and I'll be sending updates regularly.

The email list of those asking me to “send me a few pictures” has grown from last year. I'll be bcc-ing my blogs, so your email will remain out of the hands of hackers (and spamers). If you'd like to avoid one more email , just let me know (rrafoth@gmail.com) and I'll update my list. And feel free to share the posts with anyone you'd like.

Dick