Day 4: Wellington
Welcome
Yesterday was the fourth day of our tour (non-consecutive). We flew to Wellington and played the first of two shows at San Fran.
We all met at the beautiful Air NZ domestic terminal of Auckland Airport and after checking in headed to the Koru lounge for breakfast. I had toast covered with scrambled eggs, Spanish beans, and hash browns.
After a short flight and a moderately scary landing at Wellington airport we headed into the city where first we checked into our hotel and then headed to Radioactive FM to perform four songs live on the airwaves.
Next we walked over to San Fran for soundcheck and then ate dinner at the pasta restaurant across the road. I nearly scored a point for ordering an Aperol Spritz with my meal but it turned into a minus one when the drink turned out to be decidedly average due to the heavy-handed incorporation of flat soda water.
Later on that evening we were treated to a superb set from A.C. Freezy which culminated in a cover of Sheryl Crow's 'If It Makes You Happy' to celebrate tour manager Anthony Metcalf's birthday. Our own set went down a treat with the Wellington crowd and they were a pleasure to perform to.
During the show we again capitalised on our captive audience to announce some of the changes to our bird of the year campaign. We had discovered earlier in the week that there was already a very strong campaign underway for the Rockhopper penguin and we decided it was better to throw our weight in behind it to ensure that our nation's top elected avian official was at least from the penguin family. There was soon a spanner tossed into the works however when a pre-election poll showed the Kākāpō in first place closely followed though by another superb NZ penguin the Hoiho. Although they aren't as cute as either the Rockhopper or the Tawaki they are a worthy choice being a critically endangered species with only an estimated 1700 breeding pairs. They are also our best chance of getting a penguin into that top job so we have decided to officially endorse the Hoiho for BOTY 2019.
📸 Philip Griffin
After the show we continued to celebrate Anthony's special day and eventually wound up at a cocktail bar where I enjoyed a martini that contained the best olives I have ever tasted. Beth of the day goes to Jonathan for starting his day with a Mimosa, photographing the restaurant menu so Anthony could order remotely, and for figuring out during soundcheck that it was my phone in my pocket causing my bass to hum loudly.
Congratulations Jono, this was a good day's work.