The drive up the coast to Oamaru takes a little under four hours, and as luck would have it, Griff is taking a coach that way, dropping a few travellers off in the town before heading towards Kaikoura for the night, returning the following day, so Kit, Tui and I are able to sneak a lift there and back. Tui insists that I sit next to her, choosing seats just behind the middle exit, while Kit stays up at the front with his friend.

As before, Griff spends a portion of the journey talking into the microphone, telling stories and pointing out local landmarks, and I listen with interest as he explains more about Maori history, and how many of the areas that we are driving past were named. A trail of clouds is smeared like icing sugar across the sky, and when I point them out to Tui, she solemnly proclaims that they look like ‘fluffy Frisbees’.

She seems a bit tired after her triumphant morning ride, her usual cheer dampened by a pensiveness that I haven’t seen from her before. When we stop for a toilet and coffee break an hour or so into the journey, I take Kit to one side and ask him if she’s OK.

‘Just narked off because she had to leave Beavis behind,’ he explains. ‘And I think she’s missing her mum.’

I swallow hard to remove the lump in my throat.

‘Of course she is.’

‘I reckon Bon’ll be home in a few days,’ he adds, too distracted by a gesticulating Griff to notice the wan expression on my face. ‘I got a text from her this morning, just checking in.’

‘Oh?’ I stuff my clammy hands into the pockets of my denim shorts.

‘Yeah, she said she’s almost done over there.’

I wonder for at least the thousandth time what my birth mother has been doing in England all this time. Could she really be there looking for me? And if she is, why hasn’t David been in touch to tell me? Then again, I have screened a few of his recent calls, and I’m not even sure why. Perhaps it is because I am getting through each day by allowing myself to live in the moment, rather than thinking too much about the consequences, and I am enjoying my state of denial too much to risk anyone questioning it. I know I will have to go home eventually, but the more time I spend here in New Zealand, with Tui and my new friends, the less I can imagine leaving.