Six weeks ticked off, seven more before I’m done. It’s been a very eventful past three weeks, with two games and a road trip keeping me busy.

As usual, I wanted to send a quick message to say how great it was to see Pathway 101 take place. Seeing the club being future-focused is a delight to witness, even from the other side of the globe.

It has been amazing to have fellow Suttonians teammate and friend, Ponamu Palazetti, join me over here at last. It was a long wait for him to finish up exams, but I’m glad he’s over now. I’ve been giving him my whistle-stop tour of the city, which has mostly included pubs.

At the time of writing my last entry, my coach here, Scott Hansen, was being praised, and the very next day he was announced as the Crusaders Head Coach starting next season. A massive achievement for him, and it shows the quality of coach he really is.

First up in this three-week block was Club Day and a big game against Sumner. There was a great buzz around the whole club with it being Club Day, and the squad definitely felt it. We came out firing in the first half and went into half-time with a 14–10 lead.

The second half was a huge challenge, with injuries and a yellow card making life difficult. The game kept swinging back and forth, with massive efforts on both sides of the ball. I was delighted to grab my first try for Linwood as well. Unfortunately, with a last-minute dropped ball inside the 22, Sumner came out on top 31–29. A very unfortunate end to what was a huge effort from us as a squad.

Four games on the bounce and the first off week finally came around. So what did I do? Well, George, Ponamu, and myself loaded up a car and headed off on a road trip, of course.

The trip lasted five days and was nothing short of amazing. First stop from Christchurch was Lake Tekapo. The water was crystal blue and the mountain range across it was a spectacular sight. Against a lot of doubt, we managed to get into the lake for a quick — and very cold — dip.

After a quick BBQ at the hostel, we were off to bed, where I was introduced for the first time to Ponamu’s snoring. This stuff was louder than Smithy shouting "Offside!" on match day. Nonetheless, we got the shut-eye we needed before the next stop.

The next day didn’t exactly go to plan as we visited Mt Cook and the Hooker Valley around Lake Pukaki. We were victims of incredibly thick fog and some serious rain.

Thankfully, the following day was a huge improvement as we made our way to the Clay Cliffs in Omarama, Arrowtown, and finally the ever-popular Queenstown. The views along the drive were absolutely incredible, with every corner opening up a new landscape.

After a night of spending too much money on drinks and pool, we explored what Queenstown had to offer before continuing on to our second lake stop of the trip, Lake Wānaka. This was, yet again, pure beauty, with the entire landscape reflected in the cold water. We managed to throw ourselves in again despite it being much colder than Tekapo.

The next day we ventured towards Fox Glacier, just outside Franz Josef. A few stops along the way to make lunch on car bonnets weren’t exactly planned, but they most definitely built character.

As we settled into our hostel for the night, I looked down at my phone to see that my first-year college results had been released, which definitely took me by surprise. Thankfully, I did quite well, so that put a positive spin on the end of the trip.

Our last day was similar to the second, with much of it spent driving through thick fog and rake loads of rain, making conditions difficult to say the least.

The road trip ended as we pulled back into the driveway with enough time to unpack before heading straight back out to training. An away game against New Brighton was next on the list.

Unfortunately, some international clearance issues meant my first game with Ponamu in New Zealand had to be delayed until the following week, which was a shame.

As a squad, we put in a monumental effort against a very strong New Brighton side on their home patch. However, too many defensive errors proved costly and we ended up on the losing side of a 32–19 scoreline.

We’re now into the second half of the season and sitting in the middle competition based on results. There’s no time to sit around and dwell on previous games — it’s time to get back to work.

I’m looking forward to the final half of my expedition out here and, finally, to sharing the pitch with Ponamu.

Bulls Baby,

Simon