I arrived in Sydney with Laurie, my first boyfriend on the 20 March 1983. All the way over Laurie told me not to have my money in my pocket as it could get stolen, whilst at Kings Cross, what happens Lauries wallet was stolen and we had no contacts, no money and no where to go. After many phone calls we eventually found somewhere to stay. Over the next few weeks Laurie moved out of where we were staying and I also had to move, I went to the Cross and meet some guys there that were going to let me stay with them. Murray gave me some money for the weekend before moving in with him. With the money I went to the local night club, This is where I meet Stephen. Spunky guy that fell asleep on my shoulder, some how we ended up at his place and that was the beginning of 16 years together. 16 of the most wonderful years with the man I fell in love with. We had our differences and troubles but during that time we had some really good times. Stephen was 6 years older, but still had his looks, he liked to have a drink before dinner and generally didn't drink after. I didn't drink. We moved around and bought a house in the suburbs, had dogs,   heaps of them the whole family. We started off with one dog and ended up with 17 of them. At one stage we had a property which we left the dogs on, they enjoyed the country life, but it came to a point when we had to move on and downsize our family, one of the hardest things to do, getting rid of our kids. I worked for the government for many years until I was made redundant. I travelled back to Auckland many times only taking Stephen back once, my family except my parents met him. They at times came to stay and didn't mind the fact that I was gay. They didn't and still don't like it but they put up with it. During my last year in Sydney Stephen and I were both unemployed, we started a little business doing home maintenance, it worked well, but us with money wasn't very good. We had lost our home and property, downsized the family of dogs, and lived with my ex Laurie. Things weren't good, Stephen drank more and on many occassion we would have arguments over nothing. I ended up having an affair with a married man, which seemed to be an everynight thing, this wasn't because I didn't love Stephen it was because things just didn't seem to be the same and I just needed some attention. Stephen had been seeing this guy for some years, which I didn't mind so much but didn't like. Our relationship turned out to be more of friendship than anything else. Once Tuesday night, it was decided that I was to return to Auckland and leave Stephen. A very hard decision, as I was still very much in love with him. But he seemed to enjoy his drink more than he enjoyed me. I told him the thursday and flew out on the Saturday. The end of 16 years, but the memory is still there, I do miss my best friend and lover of 16 years, but time has moved on and so have I. Stephen on the other hand makes no contact