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