God New Zealand is a great place. I remember when they were closing down logging on the West Coast in the 1970s or 80s the locals were up in arms about the place being turned into one big national park.

Later, during the dot com years, there was a lot of stuff said about how we had to get with it or become the world's biggest theme park. Well, guess what, we got with it and became the world's biggest theme park. And a lot of people are doing very well out of it.

Everywhere I go I see signs of prosperity that were missing when I went offshore in 2000. The coast is doing good again. Greymouth and Hokitika are booming. Southland and Otago are doing great too. Dunedin has been totally transformed and is vibrant and cool in ways that Auckland can only dream about.

All the righty hysteria over Christmas about hard landings is looking increasingly ridiculous.

After cruising up to my old home town of Waitati, along the Pigroot, staying in The Highwayman Hotel in Dunback, dropping into the Vulcan in St Bathans and my other old home town of Lauder, I'm now in Oamaru. It's all been a total treat and I'm glad to report David Slack hasn't romanticised it one little bit. (Though I must make a minor correction, our muse was elected unanimously at one of our many AGMs.)

The sun's been shining all the way. I've seen Mt Tasman and Mt Cook reflected in Lake Matheson, slept the night in the car in Haast, had beers with the locals all over Otago and even condescended to speak to a backpacker or two. Canterbury and Kaikoura, here I come.

I hope the parts needed to fix my car, which is now in Blenheim apparently, prove very, very hard to come by.