Stan's on a flying visit but sure to find time for a feed

Stan's on a flying visit but sure to find time for a feed

Australian Idol star Stan Walker will return to his hometown of Tauranga this weekend to sing at a boxing event.

The 19-year-old lived at Mount Maunganui and went to Arataki Primary School before his family moved to Waikato and then the Gold Coast.

Walker, who shot to fame last year winning Australian Idol, said Mount Maunganui had helped shape him as a person.

"It's so awesome [there]. That's where it started. There's a lot of talented people out here and in my family."

And Walker was eager to return to Tauranga to sing at The Big Time Boxing Title Fight Night on Saturday.

"Man, it's going to be awesome. I can't wait to come back," he told the Bay of Plenty Times.
"It's going to be fun. It's an awesome event to be part of."

But he won't get much free time to catch up with his family and friends at Tamapahore Marae, as he flies to Sydney on Sunday morning after arriving in Tauranga on Friday.

He will have just an hour free but he already knows what he wants to do - eat.
"I'll try to get a quick feed in with the family, some raw fish. I think my aunty is making me some rewana bread - that's my favourite."

Walker was last in Tauranga in January, when he signed albums at Bayfair shopping centre and performed at Matakana Island's Natural Breeze festival.

Walker has fond memories of growing up in Mount Maunganui, despite speaking out about experiencing family violence there as a child.




"[I remember] the mean weather and just growing up with family, and not caring about anything, and working on the farm and doing chestnut picking. I've got many homes now but New Zealand will always be my home."

And Kiwi fans were "more full-on" than those in Australia, Walker said with a laugh.
Walker moved to Sydney from the Gold Coast after his Australian Idol win.
His life, he said, was unrecognisable from before the TV show.

"It's been full-on. I guess everything has changed - the way I look, and talk, and sound. Everything has changed.

"I'm travelling all the time, I'm living in a different place.
"It's all good, I love it. It's the best thing I've ever done, it's the hardest but the best."
His fame meant he could no longer go out on the town like most 19-year-olds. But Walker said it was still possible to be "normal".
"When I'm around my family and friends it's possible. I'm just still the same old Stan, just more people know me."

Walker will appear at a press conference at The Cornerstone Pub on The Strand at 6.30pm on Friday.
The Big Time Boxing Title Fight Night will be held at the Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre in Tauranga on Saturday at 6.30pm.

The boxing show will include a New Zealand national and WBO Asia-Pacific Title Fight between Chauncy Welliver and Daniel Tai.