AOTNZ tour Whakatane

Sparkling Hawkes Bay weather when we set off; Taupo a bit foggy and the lake

very still and eerie. Rained off & on till Whakatane. Motel a bit cramped - my

room little more than a cupboard. Set up at the Baptist Church - scene of

triumphant gig two years ago. Had a meal that was only just satisfactory in a

dodgy sports bar. James had to ask them to turn the TV down. Smuggled a bottle

of Pinot Noir into the back of the church for half time sustenance. Huge crowd

of about 250 - even some youngsters; one of whom sent a lovely email this

morning. We'll crack the hip-hop market yet. Watched the All Blacks demolish

Australia afterwards. Gig at Mills Reef in Tauranga tonight organised by our

friend Derek Jacombs of Kokomo and Self-Righteous brothers fame. Venue looks

fantastic and there are oysters. Yippee. Sold out at around 120 apparently.

Andrew

AOTNZ tour Hastings

Had the NOMS at a park in Woodville. Nice band rotunda. We've seen a few on our trip. How bout a tour of NZ band rotundas? Must explore. Set up at Hawkes Bay Opera House - not the main Theatre but an alternative called the Assembly Room - wonderful old Art Deco room - very reverberant. Turns out not half as bad when it's full of people.

Full house tonight About 250 keen folk....they got all the jokes and had a great time. The act is getting very sharp and the repertoire has nearly settled. Gave 'Concrete Block Motel' another outing and I think it'll be OK. Off to Whakatane tomorrow.

Andrew

AOTNZ tour New Plymouth

Sensational night at the TSB Theatre in New Plymouth. Good crowd of about 250

who were In The Mood. A few sound problems....we have a dodgy lead but they all

look the same so it's been hard to isolate. Al, the sound guy, kept it out for

us at the end so we might buy a couple of new ones in Napier tomorrow. Our good

buddy Dave Nepia came to the gig - a very accomplished local guitarist who sat

in with us once or twice when we used to come up here to play at Crawdaddy's.

Terry cooked us roast lamb in the motel beforehand and James went for a long

walk along the famous new Coastal Walkway, struck up a conversation with a

female fellow walker who, it turns out, works as a lady of the night. He now

claims to be a lot more knowledgeable about the sex industry than he was. As I

said back on the 11th, touring can be very educational.

Off to Hastings today - should take about 6 hours.

Andrew

AOTNZ tour Opunake & Hawera

Seem to have dropped a day somewhere.....Taranaki - land of cows and boxthorn

hedges and more concrete block motels. Opunake was OK.....the venue a little

soulless but a good crowd, although there were a few cockies who looked like

they'd been dragged out by their wives to see some 'culcha', sulking with arms

crossed and being very unamused by the whole experience. A group of dancers

demonstrated at half time....Ceroc perhaps or something similar. They were very

good. Also met a very nice bloke who wrote a musical about Jean Batten, staged

it once in Opunake, and then had to shut it down under threat of legal action

from the copyright holders of a Batten biography.

Drove up to Dawson Falls and had coffee & muffins and a guided tour of the

lodge, which was made over in the '70s by a bloke called Keith Anderson, who

hand-carved all the room fittings, doors etc and themed every room individually

(there are 12) and the whole effect is startling. Very 'Swiss Alpine Chalet'.

Took a wet 5 minute walk to Dawson Falls - very spectacular.

Played in the lovely Hawera Memorial Hall last night to a rowdy crowd which

included some old friends. Mr Glen Nevis joined us afterwards for celebrations.

Andrew

AOTNZ tour Dunedin

Dunedin gig fantastic. Steve Thomas from AOTNZ joined us for dinner at a pub (Mannequin?) across the road from St Martin's Hall , had a superb steak & kidney hot pot. We were delighted to see maybe 250 crammed into the old hall while singer Lindsey Shields played a lovely 30 minute set. Our stuff went down very well and we sold a few CDs. The New Edinburgh Folk Club had supplied some lights and what a difference it made.

Up at 5.00am yesterday to catch a flight to Welly - no hitches (except the one I am reading about). Finished a new song about concrete block motels. We're all enjoying 24 hours at home and start in Opunake tonight.

Andrew

AOTNZ tour Fairlie

Frustrated with unusable internet at the motel we fled to EAT Cafe where the fire was roaring, the coffee was delicious and the ultra-fast broadband was free. Sorted the correspondence and read a long interview with Hitch from only a fortnight ago - post cancer diagnosis - no indication of religious conversion. Bullied Billers into an admission that he'd been having me on. Accused him of having no sympathy for a fellow hack.

Curried snarlers and a bottle of Pinot for dinner and off to a nice gig at the local Golf Club. About 110 turned out and the ladies did supper afterwards. They didn't know the phrase 'three buttered and two iced'. Maybe it's a Waimate thing. No bar service!

On the road to Dunedin we see the sun for the first time since Roxburgh. Tonight we farewell the South.

Andrew

AOTNZ tour Waimate

Oamaru as cold and dreary as I recall from two years ago. Whiskey shop closed on

a Friday - of course. Had great mutton & plum pie from a Dutch bakery next door.

Arrived in Waimate and checked into 'yet another concrete block motel' - another

song idea I remember discussing with T & Nils in this exact part of the country

two years ago.

Very well looked after pre-gig by Linda and Rob at the beautiful Awatea Retreat

and B & B. We were royally treated here two years ago and nothing has changed.

Interesting chat with a city girl turned farmer's wife who introduced us to the

country saying 'three buttered and two iced' - an instruction relating to

shearing gang catering. Might be a song there. Responsive crowd at the Criterion

Hotel and an early night.

Off to Fairlie after being hastened out of our Waimate digs. Bought the possum

socks, thus contributing to the local economy in a modest way. Both Waimate and

Fairlie motels advertising wireless internet but both useless for any practical

purposes. Continuing amusing text dialogue with Billers concerning his claims

that Hitchens has converted to Christianity in the face of a cancer diagnosis

(very unlikely but he refuses to stump up with any journalistic evidence) and

that Dylan is a lousy harp player and a fraud (as Joni Mitchell claims). He's

certainly right about the first but I'm sure that history will disprove him

about the second.

Andrew