'Lost' star hunts for Kiwi drinking pals

TV star Evangeline Lilly plans to spend her trip to New Zealand in true Kiwi fashion - by having a beer with the locals.

The Canadian actor who plays Kate on the hit TV show Lost arrived in Auckland late on Thursday with her boyfriend and former co-star Dominic Monaghan. (His character Charlie was killed off at the end of the third series).

The pair kept a low profile yesterday, giving a few interviews, before heading to Waiheke Island.

Today they embark on a holiday around the country.

Lilly was coy about the details of her trip but it is believed the pair will visit Wellington and Queenstown and places where Monaghan spent time filming The Lord of the Rings in which he played a hobbit.

"I'm hoping not to do too much sightseeing," Lilly said.

"I'd prefer to find a little nook, find a little town or cabin ... go and have a beer with some locals, walk through the farms, pick wildflowers, write, read, be on my own. That's what I need here. That's what I'm looking for.

"If I was in Egypt or India I think I'd want to go and see the sights. Here, it's more about absorbing the spirit and the soul of this place ... "

Lilly, who turns 28 on August 3, says she has wanted to come to New Zealand ever since she was taught by a Kiwi school teacher as a 14-year-old.

"He went home for Christmas, brought back a slideshow, told us all about his country. I fell in love. I swore on that day that I would move here and raise my kids in New Zealand."

Lilly returns to Hawaii next month to film the fourth series of Lost, which will screen on TV2 early next year.

Source: NZ Herald