Stu, Ellie and I worked really hard to get Brix up to scratch and running smoothly and we opened on Monday which was a Bank Holiday here. Our first day was quite busy but has been followed by some much quieter days which has been frustrating. Things haven't been helped by the fact that the pavement outside the shop is being replaced and customers have to run the gaunlet of clambering over a load of rubble to get into the cafe. K Road is very colourful and the l...

Stu and Ellie are setting up a Thai cafe on K Road in Auckland, an area that used to be quite seedy but is now up and coming. There's tattoo parlours, sex shops, cool coffee houses, vintage clothes shops and lots of Pacific Island transvestites walking up and down! They have asked me to stay and help them set up and run the front of house. It's a lovely little place and it has been quite exciting going to the cash and carry, sorting out the bar and brushing up ...

Fortuitously, Jack, Chris and Caroline were all going to The Big Day Out (NZ's biggest music festival) in Auckland at the same time i had planned to go down, so they hitched a lift and shared petrol money with me. The car was hilariously full and it really was remarkable we got everything in - especially considering only MY stuff fit in the boot! So i'm back at Stu and Ellile's now and wondering what to do with myself. Stay here and earn some money or see how...

Well after a rather raucous weekend and a bit of the old booze and very little sleep, Stuart and Ellie came to pick me up in Sunday morning and off we went to get me some wheels! We went to the Backpackers car market and looked at a rusty Volvo, then to the huge Car Fair at the racecourse and i fell in love with a banana coloured sports coupe which was $1600 - WAY over budget. However, the angels guided me away from the temptation because just as i was deciding ...

Been feeling my way round Auckland since Monday and trying to get my bearings and see what's what. It's a cool relaxed city but i'm itching to get out and see the 'real' NewZ. Everyone says don't stay in Auckland, it's the worse part of the country! Luckily i hadn't planned to stay here and i'm really looking forward to going out into the Wop Wops as they call the countryside here. The Asian influence here is very pronounced, i don't know if it's just Auckland....