After a swift recovery in Raglan, we drove back to Auckland and headed to the airport to fly down to Dunedin. We arrived in the knick of time and arrived promptly back home, being greeted by Dad. We went into Dunedin and dropped Dad at the office. I went to catch up with Mr. Alex D Wilson and Nadia went to do whatever she went to do.
Later in the afternoon we drove back to Blueskin Bay with Dad and settled in with some dinner. Later on I drove into North East Valley to rendezvous with the rest of the gang who had just arrived. I picked up Anita and Sam and drove them out to Blueskin, where they were staying with us. Mum and Dad had gone to bed by the time I got back with Sam and Anita, so the four of us sat around and had a quiet giggle and a cup of tea before Sam and Anita went off to their bedrooms and Nadia and I settled into our lovely lounge campsite in front of the fire.
On Thursday morning we arose slowly. We had breakfast and fresh eggs from the hens before the four of us went up to the Ecosanctuary for a walk – something I had never done before.
The walk around the grounds was beautiful. We enjoyed the flirtatious tuis and naughty Kaka and saw some really fat takahe and the native Otago skink.
By the time we had walked around for an hour Jo Barus arrived, who is the sound engineer for this leg. He is a man who embodies the enthusiasm of a dozen children at an amusement park – all the time. We unloaded the van of all his gear and the Orokanui Ecosanctuary started to take shape as the venue for the evening.
I drove into Dunedin to pick up Richie and Chris from North East Valley and took them to the venue to drop off their gear and start soundcheck. Once that was done I took the band back to McBryde HQ for a lovely dinner which mum had prepared. I gobbled and went back up to the venue, leaving the band to relax for a bit. I jumped on the door and began welcoming the evening’s guests – one of whom was Rachel Chin, who I hadn’t seen since I left New Zealand at the beginning of 2015. What a grand reunion.
The gig was nice, although I felt that the audience didn’t give much away. However, they did cheer with gusto at the end of the show so we knew that it was a success. The team all worked together to get Jo’s gear back into the van promptly and we all went to our separate accom.
I had set a pretty early rising time the next morning, so after only 5 hours sleep we were up and quietly getting our affairs in order. I had bought the van and trailer down from the venue last night and left it at Mum and Dad’s, giving Jo Nadia’s car to go to his little house in Port and saving him having to unload it for safety.
This meant that the task was mine and Sam’s to try and reverse it out of Mum and Dad’s driveway – a task which at first we thought would be simple, but in the end, required a little more thinking. With some careful manoeuvers and backing into the front paddock, we got free of the driveway and were on our way to Port to pick up Jo, followed by a bagel and Chris & Richie stop. By 9am we were on the road to Queenstown.
The four-hour journey seemed to just fly by, and we arrived at the Sherwood hotel in time to have a relaxed setup and soundcheck. A unique sort of space, performing in the Sherwood feels almost like playing in someone’s living room, only with a lively bar in the middle of the room. The hotel were notorious for crowds that were unattentive and tended to talk though sets. So we weren’t sure how this one was going to feel.
We had a meal in the bar before the rush and everyone separated for a few hours and I reported to my stations to take tickets and sell stuff. The show was really lovely and the audience were dead silent during the show. The show ended by 11 and we packed everything back into the van. There was a small party of people who had come from Dunedin, so we had a little post-match function in the larger of our rooms. I was peckish and offered to do a Ferg burger run for the gang. I took orders and drove into central Queenstown, ordering 11 burgers. I sat and tried to avoid eye contact with the drunkest tourists while having small talk with a sober ish Australian man.
I returned to the Sherwood with the goods, which was quickly consumed followed by the realisation that it was 2am. Everyone quickly retired.
The next morning we had a coffee at the hotel before getting in the van again and driving back the way we came as far as Cromwell. We headed north from here toward Omarama. Tonight we were headed for The Manor in Oamaru. The Manor was just that, a massive stately home built in the 1860’s with a large amount of land around it. The hostess and owner, Liz, had bought it some years ago to run as a B&B and music venue.
The music venue part was a charming hall with a lovely stage at the end of it. When we arrived we found Donna Demente and Oliver decoration the stage to their heart’s content. We got the rest of the gear in and found our rooms – Chris claimed that he had seen a ghost in the building within five minutes of getting there.
I went and had a nap while the band got ready. When all was set up we were treated to a fabulous home-cooked meal made by Liz, which after a few weeks of tour food was a very welcome change. Liz also had a very liberal attitude toward the bar she ran in the venue, insisting that we help ourselves to whatever we want.
The hall was packed and the show was great – apart from a few unpredictable, boozed “punishers” who tended to talk directly back to either Anita or Nadia when they were doing a bit of banter between songs.
After the show and a meet & greet we got everything ready to be packed into the van first thing in the morning and went to have some dessert and a port in Liz’s living room. Everyone sat around for a while, but I slipped away to bed, as we had a very early start in the morning.
I was up at 6am, as was Liz who had already laid the breakfast table for us. I gobbled some cereal and started packing the van while people ate. We were on the road by 7am as we needed to get to Christchurch for a soundcheck at 12.30pm. This was the last day of the tour.
We arrived in the knick of time and went into central Christchurch to The Piano, where the band was playing a sold-out show as a part of the Christchurch Arts Festival. The setup and soundcheck took as while, as The Piano’s main auditorium is built for self-amplification which is suitable for chamber music. This makes it harder to balance when trying to engineer an amplified show. But Jo nailed it.
We went and had something to eat and went to have a rest. We were staying in the lovely Crowne Plaza, which was just a minute walk from The Piano.
I changed and went down to the venue to attend to some business and make sure everyone was happy. The room filled and the show was possibly the best of the tour. The gang ended on a real high. I sold nearly all the remaining merch after the show and said hi to my uncle Andrew and grandmother who had come to the show.
We packed up and went around the corner to the square to get something to eat, and it was packed with other festival artists. After some food, Nadia and I went back to the hotel and went to bed – absolutely pooped.
And then the tour was over. We awoke to a message from Chris saying he had got an earlier flight and was already back in Auckland. Nadia and I went to the hotel restaurant to get breakfast (included) and Richie, Sam, and Anita eventually appeared too. Nadia and I went for a walk to the bank and to Ballentine’s where we bumped into my aunty Maureen which was a lovely surprise.
We walked back to the hotel and gathered our things, said our goodbyes to Anita (who was staying on for other festival gigs) and Nadia, Sam, Ritchie and I headed to the airport. I dropped the three of them off and drove the van back to Hirequip. When I arrived, I realised that I had gone to Hirequip Equipment, which is where you hire diggers and heavy machinery rather than vehicles. As I was under time pressure I insisted that they just take it, which they eventually agreed to and I got an uber to the airport.
We arrived in Auckland and picked up a hire car that Nadia and I would use during our time in Auckland, dropped Sam off at his place and went back to Craig O’Reilly’s house.
We spent the next few days decompressing, swanning around Auckland attending to different business. We went to a few Film Festival films and just generally unwinding.
On Friday we packed up our things and packed them in the car. We drove over to Piha for a walk where the weather was absolutely punishing. We headed back into Auckland and had something before heading to the airport and starting the next phase of our trip.
McBryde Looks At Things 2 