Little Milo Newbigin had a question for Olympic champion rowers Hamish Bond and Eric Murray.

Where, asked the 4-year-old, were the silver medals?

Bond replied they were in France.

Milo was quick to reassure the gold medallist that he thought they did a great job at the London Games.

"I like gold better because they won the game," the boy said, admiring the metal round the necks of the coxless pair champions.

Milo was among the crowds in Auckland's Queen St who encountered Bond and Murray raising funds for Daffodil Day.

Said Bond: "It's a worthy cause - I don't think there would be many people who were untouched by cancer."

Bond was surprised to see the public reaction to their success since his return from London.

"We haven't really been out in public that much, to be honest. I've just been mowing my lawns and doing your general day-to-day.

"We've really been blown away by the response from the public."

Murray was likewise amazed by the public reaction.

"For us we're just over there doing our thing, rowing, and we don't tend to think about the public as much.

"But then afterwards we were finding out it wasn't just a few people watching - it was the whole nation."

He was philosophical about his future plans.

"We've achieved our goal so where do we go from now? Watch this space, I guess."

By Julian Lee