A pretrip TR for those of you cabin-bound and ornery. And a Happy
Chinese New Year to you all.

Its Friday, late morning Hong Kong time, and at this moment Roger is
enroute to Auckland, having left Tokyo about 8 hours ago and due to
arrive in about 8 more. He's going to check in to the airport hotel,
get a bottle of single malt, and subscribe to the Playboy channel for a
day. I don't want to know any more details than that.

My flight leaves Hong Kong in just under 6 hours, and I arrive in
Auckland tomorrow morning at oh-early-thirty, local time. I'll get the
Rentalmobile, Roger and I will meet up at his hotel, I'll get a quick
shower and shave, and its off for the 3 hour drive across the north
island to Lake Taupo.

Our destination is the Waitahanui River, a world-class trout river even
by New Zealand standards. There are some resident browns that tip the
scales at over 5 pounds, and a host of introduced Rainbows that run
about half that size. The fish make a seasonal run up the river from
Taupo Lake, and the prime fishing spot is at the mouth of the river.
Our accomodations are the luxurious Waitahanui Cottages, approximately
200 meters from the mouth of the river, with access to the entire
stretch of water as well as some other great locales. We ought to be
there with lines wet by midafternoon, tomorrow.

With any luck, we will meet up with fellow roffian, Clark Reid, and get
a chance to tip a bottle and wet a line with him and see some fishing
spots that are off the beaten track. We are sworn to secrecy as to the
location of these sites, so don't even try to pry any information out
of us. The only hint I'll give you is that you probably cant get there
from where you are g. In exchange, Roger has promised to meet Clark
in the White Northlands of Sweden sometime, and reciprocate. For my
part, if Clark ever makes it to Maine, I'll introduce him to someone
who can show him some fish. g

I know the cottages have internet access, as our reservations were made
on-line, but I don't know if it extends to the guests, or if its in our
cottages. We'll keep an updated trip log, and post a TR when feasible.

Meanwhile, wish us luck catching our trophy fish, and tight lines!

--riverman