One Week In

Dear all,

I'm sorry to announce a slight speed-bump on the blogging front. It would seem all internet cafe computers - in some absurd tactic of self-preservation - do not permit customers to upload photos. I therefore apologise sincerely to all of you who were hoping for a quick scroll-down pictorial guide to New Zealand. Instead, I will do my best to spark neurological excitement, inspire that wonderful thing that is imagination and leave you to colour in all that our internet cafe partners prevent.

I imagine I have already lost the fair majority of those who thought they'd check on my progress, but for the brave few of you who step forward to meet my challenge, who tackle black and white font head on regardless of visual gratifciation - I will do my best to entertain, inform and spark those neurones into creative abundance.

Imagine, if you will, a lazy weekend (and here's where I invite you to excite that imagination thing I mentioned earlier). Well, imagine two such days where you spend the entirety of your waking existence in front of the television. Actually make that two such days, where both your waking and dormant hours are spent sitting in front of the television. Imagine then, being under strict instruction not to move from that position, to not move more than a quarter inch to your left or to your right and to strip away the rest of your living room, so that your entire world is shrunk to that small space where you're sat. Are you following? If so, try now to imagine that there are two-hundred other such strangers, attempted to join you on your lazy weekend, sharing the same space as you, fighting for every inch of personal space, competing for elbow space in the most cunning of ways, sneezing, farting, coughing, breathing with two day-old unbrushed breath and trying to make your fourty-eight hours as unrelaxing as possible - and you will come close to what it is like to travel to New Zealand. After two days of travelling, two flight transfers and nine hours of delays, I arrived in Auckland, New Zealand to start my trip.

For those of you who have been fortunate enough to find yourself in New Zealand, I think you will all agree it's a pretty remarkable place. The country, roughly the size of Britain, is inhabited by 4.4 million of the world's most positively-minded people. I've yet to experience a country quite so welcoming as it is here and on top of that the country is damn-right beautiful. Say, for instance, you have a measly two days here. In that time, you could spend the first day sunbathing on a white sandy beach, soaking up those rays of sun bursting their way through the neatly cut hole in the o-zone just above. Following that, you could take a walk in the many tropical rainforests New Zealand has to offer, bathe in volanic hot water beaches and then head toward the mountains for a spot of skiing in the afternoon. Consider all that and then take into account the fact that New Zealand has just the one dangerous creepy-crawly, the cities are some of the most multi-cultural in the world and they drive on the left and you're left with an overwhelming feeling that it's a pretty remarkable place.

After a few days in Auckland, soaking up city life, I headed to Piha, a northerly region, with a couple of Dutch guys for a days perambulation in the dense forests, sea-cliffs and extensive beaches it has to offer. Another thing you'll find they're very good at here, is their national parks. With second to none facilities, a network of thousands of miles of well-maintained paths and an ingenious policy that realised the removal of litter-bins led to the removal of litter, you, as I found myself, will most assuredly walk through such parks with your mouth wide-open in awesome wonderment. After the day's hike, I headed further North to the fishing village of Paihia, where I have spent three days scuba diving, learning the ins and outs of Maori culture and exploring further some Kiwi tramping routes, this time with some Canadian accompaniment.

As far as weeks go, I have to admit it's been a pretty good one. Like all weeks it has had its ups and downs but right now the ups seem to be in a far greater multitude than their counterpart - a lovely position to find yourself in.

I hope I haven't lost too many of you through all this black and white and I hope that the few of you who stuck with it, have in some ways learnt something and dare I say enjoyed hearing the first chapter of my travels... I'll try and fix the photographic hiccup for the coming updates.

I miss you, hope to talk to you soon and hope all is well and happy with all you're doing - I throroughly mean it. If you have read this far, I imagine you are one of the people in my life I hold very dear and I can honestly tell you, I would love a catch up with all you're doing and hope very much to hear from you soon.

Until next time, I wish you all the best.