As told to Elisabeth Easther
When you think back to when you're young, lots of things are forgotten, but my Disneyland memories are still so vivid. I loved the atmosphere, the music, everything is immaculate, that really stood out. I also remember eating turkey legs in the States. They were like something from The Flintstones, these giant drumsticks that looked like clubs and tasted like ham.
When I was younger my family had a caravan at the campground in Sandspit. We spent a lot of time there, which was great because I was really keen on fishing. One morning dad got us out of bed super early because he wanted us to see the sun rise. We went to the motorcamp's little jetty and set up some of those chairs that fold into a briefcase. I also wanted to fish, so I cast my hook and was winding it in and I said I had something, that it must be a flounder. But dad thought it couldn't be — you don't get flounder on a rod and reel. But sure enough, I'd caught a flounder, quite a decent size too, it'd sucked on to the sinker. I've still got the photo, and I look so proud.
We went to Niue a few years ago. It's pretty much a coral rock, and quite porous so water drains straight through. We hired a car and drove to all the little caverns with our fins and snorkels. We did some reef snorkelling in a place called Snake Gully which. Such deep blue water, and the visibility was amazing. We didn't see whales, but there were plenty of fish including sea snakes.
My wife and I have been to Mexico a couple of times. In 2012 we did a New Years trip to Playa Del Carmen. We hired a taxi to visit Mayan ruins, and it was only about $90 for the whole day. We loved it so much we honeymooned in Mexico, but we went to the other side, to Carbo. San Jose is relatively quaint and not as touristy as nearby San Luca with its marina and big resorts. Carbo is very different to Cancun. In Carbo, you've got the beach, then heading inland it's more like desert, and very dry whereas on the Cancun side, beyond the beach it's more jungly and green.