James | Hokitika, West Coast

“Trying not to drink too much, because I’m part Irish, and on my dad’s time. I was born in Christchurch, then moved back to Hokitika.

Stayed there all my life, and then now I’m studying full time, and I’m studying hairdressing. At the Tai Poutini Polytech in Grey. 

It’s a bad thing. It’s a really, really bad thing. I had that Necrotising Fasciitis bug. It’s a flesh-eating disease, and no antibiotics will help it. It has to be cut out from the inside out. Just try not to drink too much.”