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...

So life goes on for me here and I'm just plodding along without any great events occuring. That's just fine by me. Occasionally, the odd funny thing happens like Jake had his buddies over and they all got pissed and were very entertaining. Especially Bucko (Boston and Trinity's dad) who is just mental and a legend in his own lunchtime. He never goes anywhere without his HUGE knife sticking out of his fanny pack which was a bit daunting for the taxi driver who ...

So I finally got round to taking Ollie to the shop last Thursday re the draining battery problem. Cute old Hugh Gilbraith out at Haruru Falls was kind enough to book the car in at short notice as I was going to Auckland on Monday for a night to see Liz for her birthday and obviously the car had to be in a fit state for a long drive there and back. He had the car sorted out in no time (it was the alternator) and rang me on Friday afternoon to say I could go an...

How to become Xenophobic in one easy lesson:- Live in a hostel. Further to my "isn't it great to learn about other cultures" postcard, I have reassessed my views in light of recent events. Living in a hostel for a long period and seeing a huge volume of people come and go, one gets a real insight into the foibles of certain races and nations. Especially when you're cleaning up after them. Apologies to anyone who may be offended by the following comments. The...

So we had bonfire night on the beach. Tomo bought the fireworks and was in charge of letting them off which mainly involved him putting them as near to us as possible and laughing manically while we ran screaming for cover. Everyone here (including children!) especially love the hand-held type of rocket that blasts 7 or 8 times over a distance of about 50 metres. Tomo enjoyed pointing these in our direction and aiming at boats moored off the beach. Crazy b*****! ...