Distance cycled: 0km (We put the bike in the back as the route was 80km long.)

Number of letterboxes: 520

Times we had to stop for sheep crossing the road: 2

With my lunch packed and spirits high I headed off for my first day of work in 4 months with Johnny the RD1 postie. We met at 8am in Helensville, where I found out my bike was useless on this pot-holed country route as he delivers newspapers, parcels and letters. We threw Meg in the back and hit the road to South head. There was an array of interesting letterboxes, everything from a bumble bee to a converted fridge/freezer. (Brilliant for big parcels but unfortunately there was no beer for thirsty posties.)

It's amazing what you can tell about a household just by the mail they receive. There's parking and speeding fines, not to mention brown paper packages delivered to 'Mr Nauti Bits', not quite as saucy as I imagined - he runs a boat and fishing business.

Johnny not only delivers mail, he picks it up and he'll return your DVDs for $1 a pop. At one point he gets on the phone and says, "Stick! It's Johnny, your cows look awful close to that silage." Then a few doors up there's a ginger haired kid waiting with his dog who doesn't get mail but gets a chocolate freddo frog from the postman.

But my favourite has to be this box where Ruth asks that her mail is delivered to her next door neighbour because she has unexpected visitors - six healthy, skawking baby chicks, nestled in their letterbox nest.

Next up he shows me a slug-eaten letter, apparently living this far out of suburbia you need slug pellets to protect your mail. I wonder if 'The slugs ate my electricity bill' would wash with the Power Company?

To be a good rural postie you need to be telepathic, a handwriting expert, a caretaker, a ranger, a policeman and an entertainer. And that's just the day I was there, I think I'll stick to cycling for now.