What is it with people in New Plymouth that they search for gay sex on the Internet more often than folks in other New Zealand cities including Auckland, North Shore, Wellington and Christchurch? Bored witless on a grey and rainy grey day gay social commentator and occasional GayNZ.com contributor David Herkt typed a few leading words and phrases into the Google.com trends analysis engine and discovered that New Plymouth internet users search for “gay sex” twice as often as Auckland and North Shore City residents! And a whopping four times as often as the good folk of Christchurch and Dunedin. And it's not just the “sex” part. New Plymouth, as it turns out, also has a fixation with “gay,” leaving - in descending order - Tauranga, Auckland, Palmy, Hamilton, North Shore City, Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch in its dust. What about “penis?” You guessed it, New Plymouth is streets ahead again! “Anal?” Yep, New Plymouth is waaay out in front! Giving New Plymouth a chance to lift its gaze above its navel, and choosing a couple of more sober, conservative search topics as a kind of control, Herkt entered “God” and “philosophy.” No surprises though, New Plymouth is way back in the pack. Hmmm. What about “breasts” then? Strangely, New Plymouth is just pipped at the post by Tauranga, and the rest of the country is relegated to the very minor leagues. So what about something robust, sporty and iconic of the New Zealand character. Like rugby! Herkt chose the undeniably wholesome and, it has to be said, homoerotically hunky, Daniel Carter for this test. You guessed it! New Plymouth folk have an out of proportion fixation on Daniel like you wouldn't believe! Want to try one for yourself? Go to http://www.google.com/trends and set up a test for, say, ‘cock.' These search trend results are, according to Google, generated as a ratio of all Google searches coming from that area. In other words, population doesn't matter, they represent the proportion of total Google searches which originate from the various areas. New Plymouth mayor Peter Tennent has not responded to GayNZ.com's approach for comment. Shame. Jay Bennie, David Herkt - 26th May 2006