And so C and I travelled to Mount Maunganui with the dream of living and working there to experience the Kiwi lifestyle. We travelled with our belongings tied in a handkerchief at the end of a stick. When we arrived, we found that the streets were paved with gold.... well, not quite... I had it in my head that I wanted to work in a bar... reliving the sticky fun of my student days. I prepared my ´bar worker´ CV and took it into a few places. Only the ...

The fellowship grew by one when Sal, a friend of C´s from the UK came over for a two week holiday. We hired a (too) ickle camper and set off for our tour of the North Island. Highlights included: Blackwater rafting in Waitomo: After freaking out in the cimulated cave (it was narrow and nasty) in the museum of Waitomo, I was a little bit apprehensive, to say the least, about going into a cave network with water flowing through it taking a big rubber ring. ...

So, the plan was to head to the South Island to see as much as possible, in about ten days, ready to head up to Auckland to be reunited with Lady Bowles (who by this stage was up at Mount Maunganui working in a cafe around the corner from Sarah and Martin´s after doing a road trip with a couple of friends from the UK...) So, I headed South on the Interislander ferry and bused it down to Christchurch. I hired a little blue car which, like me, had clocked up ...

My previous New Zealand adventure was in 2004, It made a change landing somewhere and recognising it! While in Sydney I had booked tickets to go and see Snow Patrol who were playing in Auckland the night I arrived… fab timing eh?I was a bit self conscious going on my own but I soon got chatting to a very very drunk South African who became my stumbly staggery shadow for the evening (until I took my cardi off and he didn't recognise me. Good to see I mad...