New Zealand

• All the coins have changed and are now smaller and shinier. There are no more five cent pieces and the ten cent pieces are a sort of bronze colour. I'm not sure how I feel about all this as, to be honest, I quite liked the old fifty cent pieces. They felt nice in my hand.
• The Mayor of Auckland is trying to change a permit that was granted while he was overseas to the organisers of the Erotica expo, allowing a parade of topless porn stars to ride through the city on motorbikes.
• The trains are at their absolute worse - consistently late and consistently delayed and still ludicrously expensive.
• Whitby is still too far away from all the places I want to be.
• Um, I hate to be a whinger (and disloyal at that) but - the coffee isn't as good as I remembered. It's still good though, very good. Maybe its more the case that the coffee in Melbourne was a lot better than I gave it credit for.