My wife and I watched the film The Beach a couple of years ago and desperately wanted to go see Thailand after that. The same happened after watching Lord of the Rings; we were dying to see New Zealand. Has that happened to any of you?

My cousin Anil who has just recently moved to Auckland, NZ, went on a trip to a couple of the neighbouring towns and had quite a lot to report on.

Anil is an architect and amateur rugby player with a life mission to bungee jump off the Empire State building. I think that’s the most succinct description I can manage.

What I found interesting about Anil’s expeditions are his ‘Day in the Life’ touches of random drives, walks, etc. For instance, Anil’s first stop was a rural town called KatiKati, in the Bay of Plenty area, which is about a 30 minute drive from the town of Tauranga.

Katikati is also commonly called mural Town for its handpainted streets!

‘Katikati has a two kilometre Haiku Pathway,’ he writes, ‘which is a one of its kind in the world.’ The entire walkway is filled with boulders inscribed with haiku poetry written by local and Australian poets.