A SPECIALIST teacher from Hampshire is jetting off to the other side of the world for a career trip of a lifetime.

Anthea Leslie, 57, who lives in Titchfield, will be spending six weeks in New Zealand - the only downside is that it's in the middle of their winter!

Mrs Leslie, who doubles as a lead individual tutor at a school in Cosham and a special needs teacher at a school at Bentworth, Alton, is the only applicant from the county who has been selected to receive a Winston Churchill travelling fellowship award for 2007.

Flying out on July 16, she is making her first visit to New Zealand and will be accompanied for most of the trip by her husband, Peter, who manages the Royal Victoria Country Park at Netley.

She says of her trip: "It's an absolutely wonderful opportunity, I'm hugely honoured to get it because it happens to be my category this year and they change every year."