Siobhan Marshall 'MY NEW LIFE IN LA'

In her own words, the Celebrity Treasure Island favourite reveals why she's returned to the US and the family health crises she's faced there

It may seem like only a few weeks ago that I was on your screens, battling it out on the beaches of Northland on Celebrity Treasure Island, but in reality, I've been living in the States for four months now. I'm writing this from our old apartment in Los Angeles, where we lived before the pandemic.

After our daughter Roux turned one in June, my husband Millen Baird and I decided it was time to return to LA after two years back in New Zealand. The main driver was retaining our Green Cards, which allow us to live and work in the US, but also our feet were getting itchy.

We threw our oldest daughter Remy a slightly premature Frozen-themed fourth birthday party, complete with an Elsa cake that lit up and sang, then packed our bags for another trek across the world - this time with two kids in tow.

It didn't quite start off as planned. First, we were turned away from the airport for not having the correct immigration documentation - but we actually did and the airline later apologised. Then after unsuccessfully trying to find a hotel for the night, we camped out for another three days at our friend's house in Auckland, before being allowed to fly to the States.

We kicked off our journey in beautiful Hawai'i. Honolulu was packed and it felt like COVID was a distant memory, with

tourists knocking back cocktails and shopping up a storm. We had a lovely time, mainly swimming and shopping, and felt pretty rested when we landed in LA five days later.