I'm not sure how I managed to forget to take our camera to Taupo. I completely failed to record our outings to the Rapids Jet, the Huka Falls, the Aratiatia Dam, or Benson, Jo's spaniel, gambolling through the shallows in Acacia Bay. Even if I had brought the camera, however, I don't think I could fully explain why 'you are in the gay van' is the most memorable sentence of Queen's Birthday Weekend 2005.

Jo and her family rule. Her parents even moved out of their Awesome-Nature-Porn-Views house on the lake and let the eleven of us take it over. I mean, who does that? (And I don't think I've ever had a blue lake, snow capped ranges and a giant unfurling koru directly outside my bedroom window before. Wow.)

Another crucial development: after seven long years of frustration and disappointment, stress and tragedy, I finally - finally! - triumphed over Juggernaut Brent in Trivial Pursuit. It's a weird feeling, like I'm an athlete who has broken a world record. What do I aim for now?