In the grips of Olympic hype, London had been transformed since our last visit 3 months earlier. Brightly dressed volunteers stand on hand at the airports, tube stations, Tourist attractions and, of course, Olympic venues - smiling and ready to help confused tourists. Signage has been added about the city, on public transport, and to tube maps, pointing out the way to Olympic sites. Temporary bars and restaurants have popped up in the parts of the city most visited by tourists. The Olympic rings have been added to the tower bridge and broadcasters have set up strategic media positions - to capture the best of the London backdrops.

Arriving late at Stansted airport, Dale and I were fortunate to make it into the city in time to catch one of the last tubes to Edgware Road. (Actually, we felt fortunate just to get into the country after the 20 questions we were asked at passport control - although it bemuses me that a dentist and lawyer from New Zealand raise more concern for border control than unskilled Eastern Europeans who don't speak English!). We made it to Edgware Road shortly before midnight and thanks to our friend James' excellent directions, we were pressing the buzzer at his apartment a few minutes later. James very kindly gave up his room for us and slept on the couch, since our original accommodation plan had fallen through at short notice. (My brother Richard came to our rescue the next couple of nights, finding us a tiny room with a single bed - which we were most grateful for.).

On our first morning back in London we met up with the lovely Kathryn Irving who is working for the New Zealand Olympic Committee and is based at Kiwi House near Kings Cross during the London games. Kiwi House screens the coverage of NZ athletes at the Games and provides New Zealanders in London with a small slice of home - offering Moa Beer, pies, and a decent cup of coffee. We joined Kat for brekky and then stayed around to watch some of a NZ women's hockey game. Leaving Kat to sort out a press conference with silver medalist Valerie Adams, we caught the tube across the city to take care of some small chores, such as collecting our tickets to that night's athletics!

I had been excited at the time we found out that we had successfully secured some Olympic tickets, but that excitement had increased immeasurably by the time Dale and I were standing in the jam packed tube to Olympic Park. Our carriage was filled with supporters wearing their national colours - USA, France, Japan, Canada, Jamaica, Kenya and of course Team GB. At Stratford station we funnelled in enormous queues through to the entrance to Olympic Park. Every 25m or so we encountered another smiling official directing us on and wishing us an enjoyable night. The mass of people moved relatively quickly and we soon found ourselves at security. Uniformed soldiers stood by metal detectors set up in a line of numbered tents. We walked through an x-ray machine and then were directed to tent D2. We joined the small queue there and followed instructions to remove watches and belts and place them with our bags through another X-ray machine whilst we walked through a metal detector. Flashing our tickets for the third time, we were permitted to enter the park along with the hordes of security-checked others.

Olympic park was vast. Signs pointed the way to the swimming centre, the basketball arena, and the hockey turf. Straight ahead of us loomed the Olympic Stadium. To our left we saw a towering sculpture, built for the London Olympics and which lit up at night. There was a forest of sun-umbrellas optimistically set up above picnic tables in one quarter, a ginormous McDonalds behind that, Heineken vendors walking around with green backpacks full of beer, tents selling the traditional English fare - fish and chips, pies, and curries - as well as bars set up selling Pimms, ale, cider and South African Rose. Dale and I lined up for beer, and were joined 10 minutes later by Kat, who had a friends and family pass into the stadium to watch the athletics.

Inside the stadium itself a thickly accented American voice was busily revving up the crowd over the loud speaker. Our seats were excellently positioned near the High Jump with a good view over most of the arena. On our left sat a New Zealand couple from Napier, on our right sat a British family and it seemed the whole row in front were loud Americans. The men's high jump final commenced first, starting at an impressive 220cm (taller than all of the competing athletes). It was fantastic the way the crowd got behind each jumper - clapping them into each jump, oohing when they knocked the pole off, cheering when they made the jump and ROARING when the British athlete made each successful jump. The men's discus was less easy to follow from where were sitting, although we sure knew who the winner of the gold medal was when the German (a giant of a man) stripped off his singlet, ran a lap of honour with German flag flying, and then jumped all the hurdles set up for the women's 100m hurdle race! There were a number of races throughout the evening but the premier event was the1500m men's final (in which our own Nick Willis was competing!). After 2 hours of watching athletes from other nations competing, it was a thrill to at last see the black and white singlet of a New Zealander on the track! Heart thumping, I watched as the race got underway, leaping to my feet and screaming for the New Zealand runner as he came past our stand! For the first couple of laps Willis ran really well and seemed to be in perfect position for a chance at a medal - it was so exciting!! And then everything went wrong, and as the crowd's cheers became deafening, Willis slipped back and back, like his batteries were going flat. He crossed the line well back from the front runners and I felt absolutely gutted for him (a Kiwi girl a few rows behind me was actually in tears!). Still, it was a great race to watch.

Once the 1500m had finished the crowds began pouring out of the stadium, heading for public transport terminals. Suddenly we were in the midst of 80,000 people all heading in the same direction. Progress was agonisingly slow as crowd controllers drip fed us through towards the exit. It took around an hour to get onto a train and then another half hour to make the two changes to get back to our closest tube stop.

After not enough sleep we met Rich and Krissy for brunch at a Kiwi run cafe in Hackney called The Counter. Astonishingly, the sun was shining and we were able to sit at a table outside on the canal-side platform with views towards Olympic stadium. Along with the sunshine, we were treated to beautiful coffee, freshly squeezed orange juice and scrambled eggs on toast which closely resembled Vogels (joy!).

Our next social engagement was with Dale's brother Gareth who we met in Oxford Street and took to Sacred (spotting one of the Love Actually actors en route!) Like us, Gaz is tripping about Europe until October. Unlike us, he is making up his itinerary as he goes along, so faces dilemmas such as whether to join friends in Spain for the tomato throwing festival, or to do a surfing tour in Portugal, or to fly to Italy to meet up with another group of friends!

Tired of crowds and bustle, I decided to take Dale for a breather in Hyde park. Silly move. The park was more crowded than anywhere we had visited yet! Though we did manage to visit the NZ war memorial at Hyde Park Corner and watch some children chase squirrels, before we swapped throngs of foreigners for a relatively modest gathering of Kiwis at Kiwi House. There, Dale bumped into an old school friend, I saw someone from Uni, and then we both encountered old family friends - Mr and Mrs Auld! The world is a village! We also caught the end of a very tense hockey game which ended in a penalty shoot out (sadly the valiant New Zealanders were on the losing end of that)!

Once Kat was free from work, we left Kiwi House and went in search of dinner, ending up at The Riding House Cafe which was actually more pub than cafe. James joined us there and we ordered a bottle of wine and some delicious sounding food. The food had just arrived when Kat received a call from work... Kiwi House was on fire!!! Disaster!! Not only had barbecue fire destroyed the outdoor garden area, but Kat had to try and scoff down some dinner and race back to work!!! Fortunately nobody had been injured in the blaze.