Dan and Beth in NZ
- a special guest report by Bryce Edwards

Bloody Brits! They come to my country and all they do is sleep in a lot, mooch around, complain about the weather, and drink endless cups of tea. It seems that you can take Dan and Beth out of Britain, but you obviously can't take the British out of Dan and Beth.

I've learnt a lot about the British by having Dan and Beth to stay. They arrived in Christchurch at the start of last week, looking incredibly emaciated (and making me look incredibly fat), but the week I spent with them reminded me why I'm intrigued by Britain. I really do miss the place. And I especially miss the British sense of humour, which of course Dan and Beth have in spades.

I've also discovered that Bethan isn't as Welsh as I thought she was - it seems she's lost her cultural heritage. I tried playing her lots of Stereophonics, Catatonia, Tom Jones, Manics etc, but she didn't seem to know and like it anymore than me and Dan. I think I might be more Welsh than her.

I've also been surprised to learn that despite working for the Department for Culture, Dan doesn't actually like culture much. Since arriving, he's refused to go to any museums or cultural institutions, saying that he's "all cultured out". The closest that they've come to doing any cultural tours is the tour they did here in Dunedin at the Speight's brewery. (And by the way, there's now a New Zealand Speight's Pub in London - it arrived via a boat about two weeks ago, and is currently moored in the Thames - check it out for some Kiwi culture).

Dan's been particular keen to investigate NZ pubs and bars, so we've had a few drinks here and there. He particularly likes NZ beer. Actually Dan reckons New Zealand is much nicer than Australia. Although I played devil's advocate by saying that 'the Australian people are cheerful, the cities safe and clean, the food is excellent, the beer is cold and the sun nearly always shines', he just responded that 'it's the driest, flattest, most desiccated, infertile and climatically aggressive of all the inhabited continents'. So it seems that New Zealand is the winning antipodean country on the World Is My Lobster world tour.

And in case you don't know your NZ geography, Dan and Beth are currently in the South Island. (They think that we Kiwi's aren't very imaginative -naming our main countries: North and South. They're also surprised that most of our street names are named after royalty and English things: Queens St, Victoria Rd, London St etc.) In fact they're enjoying some of the similarities with Britain: we drive on the left, we watch Coronation Street, and we elect Labour governments that aren't really leftwing. And when driving through the Canterbury plains on the way to Dunedin, they reckon its much like Suffolk. And some of driving through the Southern Alps probably now reminds them of the Lake District or Scotland. The fun comes for them in noticing the differences: speed limits in kph, the roads are fairly traffic free, the sky at night does not have the lurid orange glow that it has back home, etc. They're enjoying the local cuisine too. We had fish and chips the other night, and apparently it's better than the "fush and chups" back home or the Australian "Feesh and cheeps".

After Christchurch, I drove Beth and Dan to the furthermost city from London in the world - Dunedin. Unfortunately it's therefore also the closest to the Antarctic, so we've had to lend the Brits some warmer coats.

On Sunday we piled them into a bus headed for Queenstown - the home of adventure sport and all things outdoor. They're not so sure about doing the bungy jumping. Although when they heard that you can do it for free if you do it naked, they suddenly seemed quite keen. Wait for the photos!

But in the meantime, below are some of the photos I've taken of the Brit visitors.

It's definitely been fantastic to have Beth and Dan to stay. Hopefully some more of you Brits will come down under too. And I've ever started drinking a bit of tea...

Cheers

Bryce

Arrival brunch in Christchurch:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryceedwards/1749180625/

Travelled around by car, Dan felt uncomfortable whenever we parked on a railway crossing:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryceedwards/1768468604/

Dan in Christchurch pointing in the direction of London:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryceedwards/1767649656/

Dan and Beth under a rainbow:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryceedwards/1749264881/

In Christchurch:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryceedwards/1749241479/

Dan and Beth pretending to be nice to get into a bar:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryceedwards/1750058118/

Dan and Beth at the (natural formed) Moeraki Boulders:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryceedwards/1742926616/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryceedwards/1742870772/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryceedwards/1742041019/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryceedwards/1742835464/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryceedwards/1742804418/

For more photos of Dan (and Beth), try my DCMS photo page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryceedwards/tags/dcms/

Or to see what Dan really got up to at work in London, check these out:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryceedwards/271104014/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryceedwards/375008374/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryceedwards/301742949/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryceedwards/301737818/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryceedwards/284485271/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryceedwards/271125832/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryceedwards/187287823/