So the last month in Paihia has certainly been memorable. There's a bit of a backlog of news and i'm bound to have forgotten some things sadly. The weather throughout December was unseasonally poor and there was a lot of rain in the Bay of Islands which made me feel quite at home and Christmassy actually.

Us cleaners got a day off on Christmas Day but helped Jake and Nikki put a bbq brunch together for the Backpackers. We had POUNDS and pounds of steaks and i ate lots of it! mmm protein... The sun actually came out briefly as we sat in the garden and i felt quite content supping my bottle of Lindauer at 11am! Nikki and Jake bought me a Christmas present - an "Edmonds Cookbook" - a legendary culinary bible over here. I had been making good use of Nikki's copy for my baking stints and had been coveting it. So it was a very thoughtful gift and i treasure it. The recipes are superb by the way - Delia knows NOTHING!

In the afternoon we headed down to the beach (cloudy) and, in a bit of tipsy state, stripped off and ran en masse into the sea. Glacial is the only word to describe the temperature of the water - like nothing i've ever experienced. It positively takes your breath away and gave us all a fit of bizarre gasping giggles. Unfortunately there a was tv crew filming us from the beach and no doubt the antics of "these drunken backpackers" appeared on that night's 6 o'clock news. Then after a bit of chilling and pottering, i was in bed by 9.30 and that was that. Memorable if not terribly eventful.

Stephanie's THIRTY-FIRST (count em) birthday was on the 27th and we had decided to go quad-biking. A real treat! The first time we'd all managed to do something together and it was a scorcher of a day - wohoo! We all felt very New Zealandish motoring through the countryside amid the cows and cowpats, through the the bush and up dusty hills and through big dirty puddles. The others were a little trepidatious but Rob and i, at the back of the group, couldn't resist zooming around and got told off a couple of times by Jasper, the very Kiwi owner of the farm.

We were about to head back after 2 gloriously enjoyable hours, when Steph braked after a tricky bend. Becky was a bit too close behind to react and only had time to swerve - into a SWAMP! The bike ended up upside down in 5ft of water but Beck managed to jump clear in time - a real stunt that had to be seen to be believed. Jasper leapt off his bike and ran over to the rescue (or so we thought) as Beck came to the surface, coughing up green slime and covered in omska! But instead of pulling her out, Jasper just stood there pointing at her and shouting "How the f*** did you manage that!? Oh Christ! For f***sake!! 13 and a half grand's worth of bike!! Oh my f***ing Christ it was only two weeks old!". Hey buddy - hows about we get her out first and make sure she's ok and nothing's broken! Nice guy.

So we got Beck out and half an hour of rope pulling and muck and slime and throttle and grunting later we managed to pull the bike out between us which seemed to make Jasper happier and he apologised to Beck for shouting at her. But it wouldn't start and we headed back to the farm with Beck on the back of my bike - obviously going really fast when Jasper wasn't looking! Ha ha ha!

So then New Year was upon us and on New Year's Eve Beck and i got the chance to go Parasailing (being winched 1200ft on a parachute from the back of a boat). I could write whole essays about how amazing it was but i'll just say it makes you feel like an angel and it's so quiet and unbelievably beautiful up there. ABSOLUTELY EXTRAORDINARY! Bring on the skydiving!

The rest of the day we were on a high and partied the night away - which mainly involved working at the restaurant, followed by drinking games, watching fireworks on the beach, smoking a menthol cigarette (oops), more drinking, cleaning up sick (not mine - naming no names - you know who you are), wearing glowinthedark earrings, not remembering a few hours, going back to the beach and watching the sunrise.

Then eventually the time came for the Paihia Party to end and everyone seemed to be leaving within a few days of each other. Nikki and Jake were kind enough to cook a huge meal for the leavers and those who would be replacing us. Roast chicken and gravy and all the trimmings! Oh my God! Real food never tasted so good. And of course a real NZ Pavlova to follow. Obviously we had a big leaving night out as well but that ended in controversy so i'm saying nothing more about it!

However, nothing could blight the amazing time i have had in Paihia and the abiding memory will be of constant laughter. Thank you to everyone who was there - passing through or part of the furniture - some serious good times were had! xxx