Everybody knows back in the UK that the real people live in the North and that the South is full of “Walter the softy” types. There’s also the fact that the scenery is much better up North but all the bloody jobs are down South. The strange thing is that it seems to be true here too, except that it’s all upside down.

So we have opted for setting up shop down in the South, amongst the real people of New Zealand (if the truth be known, even the softies from up North were amiable). The city of choice is Christchurch and if all goes well I should be bringing home the bacon before the end of November.

We have spent the last week in the South island having breezed in from Auckland and the scenery is stunning. Kaikora and Akoroa stand out as places we expect to visit often once we’re settled.

Akoroa is surprisingly nice because it was taken from the French by the British, but unlike Chamonix, it seems to have retained all it’s loveliness. Also, I don’t remember many dolphins around Chamonix, but then again, it was winter the last time I visited.

We have missed the ski season over here by a couple of weeks, but next season we should be able to drive to 11 different areas, meaning that the season will be pretty much over before we get banned from the whole lot. Somebody told me that “it’s not like skiing in Europe”, so the news just gets better all the time.

So far we’ve not had much home sickness, but that may come. We are missing family and friends of course but the only other thing is the goals in the premiership, but since Liverpool have not actually scored any, we’re not missing much.

I’ll be signing my contract tomorrow for a real job … could be interesting.