Less than 48 hours to go...

...and I'm very grateful for everyone who has supported me - THANK YOU!!

The competition closes at 12noon on this Tuesday Sept 8th, when the 3 blogs with the most followers will proceed to the round of final interviews, and possibly another challenge!

I've moved up to 5th place, and am knocking on the door of 4th place... spent yesterday hanging out with the competition - Craig & Linda - and had a great time. Everyone I've met in New Zealand is so warm and generous ...even if they are competing with me for an amazing 3-month blogging trip around the country!! Here's the vid we shot together yesterday:

Co-Opetition, what a concept!? Oh yeah, and spot the guy from Hawaii wearing 3 layers and a huge jacket while the Kiwi guy is crusing in his t-shirt!! Seriously though, if I could pick the top 3 candidates then it would surely be Craig, his lovely wife Linda, and of course me! Great people! ;-) Check out their site and consider doing the same for them.

Be sure to check out this very quick and fun little video touring Auckland City - what an amazing town. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and the harbour is full of sailboats. Ate a delicious home-cooked meal last night: fresh green-lipped mussels steamed in coconut milk and red thai curry sauce last night, yum! Life is great.

Don't forget to keep spreading the word through Facebook, Twitter, or any other [legal] means - if you've got an iPhone on you then don't be ashamed to sign up the person sitting next to you ;-) ...and click FOLLOW at the right side of this blog to help me win this dream job and share the wonderful people, places, and culture of AOTEAROA with you!!

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Arrival in Christchurch

CHRISTCHURCH CITY SQUARE BY NIGHT

Christchurch is cold, wet, and wonderfully misty as I am driven to my hosts’ apartment at one in the morning.

The streetlights infuse everything with a warm orange glow, and I’ve already made new friends while standing in line at customs.  I like New Zealand

Marina [a.k.a The Swiss Temptress] and Matt [a.k.a. The Vagabonding Kiwi] are my Couchsurfing hosts for the next couple days as I make preparations for a short roadtrip south to Queenstown for some snowboarding fun.  They met at a Backpackers’ pub in London and between them have traveled through Europe, South America, the United States, and Japan; we are meeting up later tonight at a CouchSurfMeet held on the couches of,  Le Plonk of course, with some of the local Couchsurfing Crew.  Should make for a fun night out…

LE PLONK, AFTER A COUPLE GLASSES OF LE PLONK

Breakfast this morning was at an organic café called Vic's 5 minutes walk from Matt’n’Marina’s home that makes the world’s best fresh bread.  Think home-made sourdough and honey ciabbata and rye loafs – I love the smell of fresh bread in the morning!

Christchurch is one of two cities in the world whose drinking water is so pure that it comes out of the tap untreated.  The other city?  Evian, France.  I am drinking the equivalent of expensive, pure bottled spring water straight from the tap.

Lunch à a café-come-boardroom aptly named, well, The Boardroom where you can meet clients for a cuppa, or hire a private conference room for more privacy.  I’m here to interview Peter ‘Pink Gloves’ Taylor, Organizer of Christchurch’s Greendrinks event, and all-around Sustainability Marketing Guru.  He quickly turns the tables on me and produces his own video camera to record an impromptu interview with me …

Peter is a bright-eyed man with a quick wit and twinkle in his eye who is involved with a projects in the business and political areneas, all focussed on helping businesses and community embrace and adopt sustainability.

There are many different accents and faces in the streets of Christchurch as I wander around to sort out my new cell phone and find an internet café (there’s a good one next to Starbucks in the city square, $3/ 1^st hr, highspeed wireless connection).  The sales girl at Vodafone hasn’t heard of the EntirelyWorldFamous competition, so in a fit of shameless self-promotion I take it upon myself to educate her about it, and of course ask for her vote.  Thanks Hannah!

Dinner is a yet another café (there are some good ones here) called The Honey Pot that is a favorite of Matt’n’Marina …serving breakfast all day, this is my kind of place. 

STEAMING HOT BLACKCURRANT

The customer favorite on the dinner menu here is the B.B.C. - Chicken breast stuffed with sun-dried tomatoes ad smoked cheese, wrapped in bacon and served with baby potatoes, panfried seasonal veges and a spicy BBQ sauce.  Fowl Play is also recommended, while Hot Lips and Jimmy The Fish also look like good choices.

I opt for the breakkie customer favorite: The Breakfast Muffin - strips of chunky bacon,  fried egg, sliced avocado smothered in home-made hollanaise sauce - and am not disappointed [thanks for the recommendation Sharla!].  It lasts about 2 minutes as I wash it down with some Hot Blackcurrant, a wine-colored drink that tastes medieval and warms my insides.

There is all kinds of art on the walls and a mellow roots-reggae soundtrack soothes and chills me out.  

Welcome to New Zealand!

STOP PRESS: Aotearoa here I come!!

Theme Song for the Day:

1. "The Matty Lynch Song", by Funk Harmony Park

I WAS BORN FOR THIS JOB!

Christchurch-based travel company Entirely Kiwi has the following position on offer:

• World Famous New Zealand Expert on Everything New Zealand
  

The Dream Job exploring the Land of the Long White Cloud on an all-expenses-paid three month tour of Aotearoa. Job Duties include:

• meeting the locals and sampling the local brewskies
  
• rapelling into GlowWorm caves of Waitomu
  
• lounging in the mud baths of Rotorua
• base jumping from the buildings of Aukland
  
• fish the Bay of Plenty
• scaling the cliffs of Wanaka
• bombing the snowboard runs of Queenstown
• cross the glaciers of the South Island
• explore Marlborough wine country
• hike the mystical Fiordland wilderness
• fly fish Norfolk Island
• and whatever other adventures and misadventures we can think up!
  

So vote for me by clicking here [join my Facebook fan page] and here [rate the YouTube clip] ...and all of your wildest dreams will come true!

THE JOURNEY BEGINS


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