Thats right! It's Valentines Day and yes. It is raining! The weather this week has been seriously interesting... (What am I doing - How British to be talking about the weather!) However, on Wednesday it was rather hot and humid and on Thursday it was pretty much unbearable. It was actually the hottest day on record for about 180 years on Thursday and 100% humidity so not pleasant when you are jumping up and down singing songs and trying to put together a brand new drum kit... (attaching skins and all) It poured down on Thursday evening though and Friday was much more pleasant! On other news - I am now well versed in 'The Lycra song' 'Cool Cats' and 'The Shapes Song' all of which contain very repetitive lyrics and tunes and are somewhat unoriginal. ... read more

Saturday 7th February saw a slightly later morning than Friday and Milly (Emily) and I decided to do a bit of shopping for essential items such as shoes, bags, chocolate etc... Incidentally I bought an amazing pair of Jesus sandals for $20 which is about £8 and a handbag for $15.90 which is about £6.50...After our bargain hunting we met up with Greg, Amanda and Ben and went over to Devonport for the afternoon. Devonport is a 15 minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland and has fantastic views of the city. After a snack we went for a wander around the town discovering that the Wellington rugby sevens was on and televised in the local bar. Amanda had to leave at that point and whilst the boys took her back to the ferry terminal, Milly and ... read more

Well, I have made it a third of the way there ish... I am currently sitting in Dubai airport... i have no signal as my phone company doesn't seem to exist in Dubai! I am also completely deaf in my right ear and partially deaf in my left... This is what happens when you try and fly with a bad cold. Firstly - seriously painful on landing, despite my precautionary measures buying 'earplanes' at Gatwick which supposedly equalise the pressure reducing discomfort... well if they did work, then i'm very glad because my head would probably have exploded. 25 minutes of sheer agony and guess what! I get to do it all again... not once but twice! We have a stop in Brisbane before finally arriving in Auckland. Apart from that though i can't complain. The ... read more

Well, I thought I would set up the old travel blog before I go away in the hope that I could find all your emails and invite you etc! This time in one week I will be mid air - somewhere between here and New Zealand! Final preparations are underway and with any luck I should make it there in one piece with all the things I need at the right time! I'll be keeping this as up to date as I possibly can but i'm not sure of internet access etc... All the best and i'll keep you posted! B x... read more