AOTNZ Greymouth

Big day yesterday for the tourists. Stopped at Punakaiki and oo-ed and ah-ed at the rock formations etc. Very warm. Diverted to Blackball....cold & foggy - this is more like it. Had a pint of Miner's Dark in the (formerly) Blackball Hilton and went to the famous sausage shop. Bought a salami and were given a freshly cooked black pudding, which we had sliced on the NO Memorial Sandwiches we made at the skate park. Got to Frank's in Greymouth about 4.00 and set up. Nel had her Tibetan Chef whip up some pork & spinach dumplings to see us through till after the gig.....brilliant. The cafe was packed and the show went well. It's all falling into place.

Andrew

AOTNZ tour Westport

Westport last night. Fabulous new venue called the NBS Theatre. Seats about 400 and we must have had 50 at the most but it felt great anyway. Fantastic acoustics and effective lighting. Excellent crowd including an old mate from Wanganui I haven't seen in years. Debbie the manager was terrific and sold CDs for us. I feel that the repertoire is at last falling into a logical sequence, and we included the debut performance of 'Let's have Friends Around for Dinner'. Forgot the words of course but the punters laughed at that as well. Inspired by our detour to Denniston a couple of days ago Terry bought 'The Denniston Rose' (Illustrated) and the sequel all-in-one and is right in the thick of it. Now he wants to go work in the mines. Apparently we are in for a big night at Frank's Cafe in Greymouth.....plenty booked and the town is on tenterhooks awaiting our triumphant arrival. I may be getting a bit carried away. I wonder if the interest they say they are experiencing is due to our having played there before? Still beautiful weather....apparently Central Otago is like Antarctica at the moment - we will find out on Saturday.

Andrew

AOTNZ tour Karamea

We have been royally looked after in Karamea by David & Cathy at the Last Resort. We spent the morning rehearsing 'Karamea Cowboy' so we could pull it off tonight, also a couple of new ones. Interesting experience with the laundry lady. She took a bag of washing off each of us, mixed it all up in the washing machine, and delivered us each our own bag a couple of hours later with all our washing sorted out.....everyone had their own stuff in their own bag again. How did she do it? Working on a song about the West Coast Washerwoman. Then we drove half an hour North to Kohaihai and walked the first few kms of the Heaphy Track. Stunning bush and shoreline. Met a weka and peeled a banana to feed it but the stupid thing ran off with the banana peel. Back in time to set up & eat, then play the gig to a small but very enthusiastic crowd of about 20. Met some folk we got to know on the last couple of trips up here. It really is a special place. Kind of like Golden Bay in its isolation but in a different way....it's a bit less laid back....the West Coast influence perhaps...people here still have to carve a living out of a pretty wild landscape. It's not a forgiving piece of geography.

Andrew

AOTNZ tour Reefton

Reefton. Bloody Hell. A town carved out of a coal seam. Significantly better than our gig two years ago, we had about 18. Not a lot of response and I felt we were going over like a cup of cold sick but they all thanked us effusively afterwards and seemed to have genuinely had a good time. Daisy, the organiser from the Inangahua Community Arts Council, is a delight. We dined in style at Alfresco's restaurant just up the road from the motel. The waitress had to wear a ski jacket as she had to go outside between the restaurant and the kitchen, and it was very cold. She was doing the cooking as well. From time to time the caretaker would pop in and tell us the rugby league score and all about his knee operation. We drank them out of pinot noir (they had two bottles) and slid home along the frozen footpath. The Lantern Court Motel was luxurious. They rushed us out at 10.00am so we stocked up on groceries and took off for Karamea through thick fog, emerging into brilliant sunshine at Westport where we assembled the Nils Olsen Memorial Sandwiches and Terry made coffee with his portable stove. Diverted to Denniston en route to Karamea and were all fascinated by the history up there on that bleak plateau. Must read the book. Karamea very quiet - apparently they have a few booked in tomorrow night.

Andrew

AOTNZ tour Mussel Inn

Long drive from Rangiora to Onekaka in Golden Bay but a beautiful day. Stopped on the side of the road at Murchison to make a sandwich, which contained, amongst other things, some Nils Olsen Memorial Gherkins. Nils was most particular about his gherkins on our last AOTNZ tour two years ago. Sunny but deceptively cold and we were back in the van after half an hour. Also stopped for a cuppa at Terry's brother Ian's home in Motueka,. Said g'day to Ian's old dog Robber, who is 114 in human years. His front legs go faster than his back ones so he rolls down the steps rather than walking. Apparently possessing an active libido as a youngster, Robber was once caught 'in flagrante delicto' with a sheep on a visit to Great Barrier Island. Touring can be exhausting but educational. The Mussel Inn was packed and we did an extra set because we love it so much. Still probably the best venue in the country. Delighted to see Julian & Sally Manning from Pete Findlay's old gang there, also Philip Woolaston whose winery we played at a few years ago, also the venue for a brilliant Emma Pask concert there last January. Realised kind of late this morning that our gig in Reefton today is at 3.00pm. Should be there by 2.00 if we're lucky. Last time we played there the crowd numbered about 6, all related to Terry - we're hoping to build on that.

Andrew

AOTNZ tour Rangiora

Rossburn Reception, Rangiora. That's more like it. Great venue with an attentive crowd,

close on 200 I would think. Standing room only. All organised by Sandra and

Dorothy from 'Events with Attitude', who have plenty themselves. Rossburn is the

home of Dawn & Richard Spark - Richard has lived there for 66 years and has

never thrown anything away. He has more sheds than NASA and a museum that would

rival Te Papa. Home cooked apricot scones (Richard has a sweet tooth) and a

typical South Island breakfast with home grown bacon & eggs. We had the best

Thai takeaways I have ever had before the gig. Mr & Mrs Drifto came out so we

could Ride With Bob and it was lovely to hear those lyrical guitar lines wafting

around. James sang 'Night & Day' and they were swooning all over the place. Bob

sang 'Your Feet's Too Big' and brought the house down. Sold a swag of CDs - even

a couple of our recently-reduced DVDs. It's 9.30am, just gassed up, it's a

glorious day and we are on the way to the Mussel Inn - it doesn't get much

better than that.

Andrew

AOTNZ tour Methven

Long day to get to Methven yesterday helped by Felicity the GPS girl. Stodgy

corn fritters at Robert Harris in CHCH opposite Steve's AOTNZ office at the Arts

Centre (what a building!). Passed through interestingly-named towns Glentunnel

and Windwhistle. Luke at the Blue Pub seemed a likeable enough fellow,

surprising as he is an ex-professional Australian cricketer. We soon got over

that shock and were able to be civil to him tho. He could not have been more

generous and hospitable. Big nosh up before the gig and a lovely Barossa Valley

Merlot after. Difficult gig tho - half the audience had bussed in from Ashburton

and knew what we were about, the other half were skiers just in off the street

who really weren't interested so it was too noisy to do our usual schtick. Nice

breakfast at Cafe 131 - eggs benedict & tomato juice. Once we got away that is,

after James locked our bags in the pub. stupid boy. Rangiora apparently sold out

tonight at 160 pax. Drifto will be there so there will be Riding with Bob.

Andrew