It is now the end of the first month of 2012. I have been out of internet circulation at Waipatiki, a beautiful beach north of Napier. We have a place there with no phone, so internet waits until we are in town. We spent all summer there but are now back at home, as I am back at school. It is my new favourite place, as we listen to birds sing tui, bellbirds, kereru (woodpigeon) and kingfisher (Kotare) plus other like quails and pheasants and the sea. Wonderful. It was hard to come back here!

Over Xmas my family gathered to spend their first summer at the new family bach at a small beach in Hawkes Bay. One of the things we did, in teams, was to build sandcastle sculptures of a creature found in the sea. My daughter Kate and I did Tangaroa, god of the sea. However we are depending on Facebook votes to determine the winner. So far the shark has a vote!

Last Sunday evening was an unforgettable experience, expectations on the ABs by the whole country was huge. We expected them to win this time, as in 1987. We joined 800 people at the fanzone at the Hawkes Bay Opera House, the last 20 minutes were almost unbearable. The ABs prevailed and the whole country have celebrated every since.

Israel Dagg is my new All Black hero. After last night’s world cup game against France, Israel played a wonderful game and got two tries. He defended brilliantly and helped me get over the incredible nerves I had in the first 15 minutes. I remember the 2007 quarter final SO well! After our first 3 tries, I felt so much more relaxed. I had a continuous text conversation with my son, Mike in Melbourne, where he was watching the game in a pub with many other NZers. He was at that infamous quarter final in Cardiff in 2007 and did remind him the Frence had come from behind on more than one occasion!