I'm taking my little brother with me to New Zealand for the first two weeks of my trip. I've never been travelling with Steve before so I'm looking forward to lots of play time for just us - we'll no doubt spend much time where he is trying to show off his muscles and how much further than me he can run, but that's okay - I can proudly think to myself how much smaller my feet are than his... that's about all I've got I'm afraid.

We're going to go hang out with our uncle, Andy, and his two boys, Jack and Sam, in Christchurch. Andy is the young uncle, he's my Dad's baby brother so has never really been perceived as a "scary elder" type person. Steve is keen to go 4WDing with Andy - my last experience of 4WDing in New Zealand I was convinced I was going to die, so I'm not quite as excited as Steve. There is a photo of me somewhere having a calming beer in an attempt to wipe the previous hours experiences from my memory... Hopefully we'll also see our great uncle Frank who lives in Timaru, and Shirley and Dugald (also great of the grandparent sibling variety) in Christchurch.

I really like Christchurch, I think it is a beautiful city. If I ever moved to NZ I reckon Christchurch is the only place I'd consider living. I know people think it's small and quirky, but I like that. And I love that crazy fountain in the gardens! The one with dragon like creatures that are meant to be dolphins. It's called the Peacock Fountain and it truly is ugly I suppose.

After Christchurch we head up to Auckland to hang out with more relatives up north. Steve leaves me there and I head off to Toronto...