I’d always wonder what impact taking our three daughters to NZ for five years would have on their outlook on life and attitude to travel.  Over the years it’s been clear that they view travel and spending time away as very much the norm and this becomes even more a feature of our family’s life with my eldest daughter heading off to Auckland University of Technology on an erasmus year as part of the Journalism and Communications degree  she’s studying at Cardiff University. She sets off from the National Express bus station in Cardiff (part away through the Wales v Scotland Six Nations opening fixture) for Heathrow with a mixture of trepidation and excitement.

The erasmus semester runs from February to June and she’ll be in the International students halls. She’s met up with some erasmus students from previous years who’ve, to a person, confirmed it to be a life chaining experience. It’ll be interesting to see who much she remembers of a city she lived in from the age of 9 to 14 years old. I have a feeling she is going to enjoy  New Zealand  as a student even more than she enjoyed New Zealand as a child.

I took this photo at the All Blacks’ press conference after the 2011 Rugby World Cup Final (how I managed to gain access to the press conference is the subject of another post). It’s hung in my kitchen in the UK since then and I look at it each morning as I wait for the kettle to boil. It struck me one morning that it would be quite neat to see if I could get the photo signed and so the quest began. Continue reading →

The Outdoorsman in Rotorua is a large store selling everything you could possibly need to engage in New Zealand’s various country pursuits. It’s a fascinating place well worth a visit.

The store sells items that will more than satisfy the urban commuter looking for a warm coat or a family looking for gear to support a couple of nights camping, however a quick walk around confirms that these customer segments are but a small part of the store’s target market. In no particular order some of the lines on sale are as follows.  Continue reading →

Dunedin’s Baldwin Street claims to be the steepest street in the world with its inclination peaking at 35% towards the top. The steepness was unintentional as the local streets were laid out in a grid pattern by planners in London with no consideration for the local terrain.   Continue reading →

A beautiful sunny day in Dunedin invites an initial foray into this wonderful city. I visited Dunedin back in 2010 when, after drinking too many Speights on a Friday night, I was persuaded to captain the Welsh Leeks (the Welsh nude rugby team) against the Nude Blacks the following day (a sort of curtain-raiser before Wales’ first test against Wales at Carisbrook). Fortunately, during this return visit nobody recognises me wth my clothes on and I am able wander around unmolested.   Continue reading →

Early start this morning for the 5hrs+ journey from Christchurch to Dunedin which departs at 07:45. I’ve downloaded the audiobook version of Trevor Bentley’s ‘Pakeha Maori – The Extraordinary Story of Europeans who lived their lives as Maoris’ to help pass the time away. The fare is a bargain $22 and the journey offers great views across the Canterbury plains to snow capped mountains and later out to sea.   Continue reading →

To beat the world’s best you have to become the world’s best. And for Gatland this means moulding forty one players into a cohesive force in a matter of weeks. No trivial undertaking. So this results was huge, a downward spiral has been averted, a team with real backbone is emerging and the pressure cooker itinerary intended to ensure a test-ready Lions team is established is beginning to be vindicated.

Wile walking from downtown Christchurch back to the backpacker hostel I’m staying in I stumble across the match day Lions squad going through final preparations on a strip of public parkland outside their hotel – quite a sight. It’s “put-up or shut-up” time you can almost feel the intensity.

And so it begins, a narrow uninspiring victory against the Provincial Barbarians by a ‘just off the plane’ and apparently jet lagged Lions side. Toll stadium is ‘old school’ with a swathe of slightly too steep grass bank made treacherous in places by the previous night’s heavy rain.   Continue reading →