Day 4: Ōtepoti (Dunedin)
Nau mai
Inanahi, i whakatangi mātou ki Ōtepoti, Aotearoa
It was a gentle crescendo of minor pentatonic plucks and twangs that brought me into the world at 6.25am, courtesy of ‘Silk’, my favourite alarm tone. We were all in the van by seven and headed to Christchurch airport – another day of touring in a country with low population density.
The flight was beautiful. It was a near-freezing morning so our waka rererangi was de-iced before we could take off. We rotated off the runway and soon were heading southwest above Te Waipounamu’s coastline. I was afforded a spectacular view from my window seat with the jagged crests of the Southern Alps piercing the layer of low cloud that hung over the centre of the island.
The window freshly speckled with de-icing fluid.
The beginning of the Southern Alps.
A huge zoom-in on Aoraki (Mount Cook).
The Silverpeaks.
Landing at Dunedin Airport.
Our ATR72-600 touched town at Dunedin Airport after a descent that took us over the rugged Kakanui Mountains and then the Silverpeaks north of the city. We received a pleasant surprise when we found a huge fleet of Astrolift TAZ-CIT-102s waiting for us in the terminal, I think these looked like an older version of this model. Every single advertising plate was resplendent in the colourful jiipsi.com liveries, even the narrow strips affixed to the sides of the trolley back had room for a QR code.
A quartet of Astrolift TAZ-CIT-102s.
Anthony drove us into the city and we headed to our favourite Ōtepoti parakuihi spot, a café near the harbour called Precinct Food. I ordered the cheesy cauliflower French toast which was topped with fresh lettuce and pickled onions. There was time for a quick stop at the hospice shop right opposite the café where on the last NZ tour I famously scored my highly collectable transonic portable DVD player. No such rarities presented themselves this time but I did get a good price on a long sleeved navy blue t-shirt.
We headed next to The Glenroy Auditorium, an ideal space for medium-sized conferences or live performances. We had been warned that the auditorium sounded a bit lively because of the high ceiling and hard surfaces so we had hired a large curtain to go around the edge of the room and dampen the sound somewhat. As we arrived the curtain was being hung and the installation of the other production elements was in full swing. The PA was being moved into place, amps and drums were stacked around and truss was hanging at ground level so lights could be hung and tweaked.
Dunedin Town Hall, the building inside which the Glenroy Auditorium resides.
The room still presented some challenges for Pete, our sound engineer, so we spent longer than usual getting everything dialled in and feeling comfortable on stage. There were challenges for the lighting department too. A test-fire of the smoke machine left Tristan completely engulfed and spluttering – not a surprise you want to have mid-show.
I watched Dawn Diver’s set, the first half from ground level and then I headed to the mezzanine to hear how they sounded from above. The performance was equally captivating from both vantage points and I headed back to the green room feeling thoroughly gratified. Before I could get backstage however I was grabbed from behind and an object thrust into my hands. I turned around and faced a towering Scott Kendall, long-time friend of the blog, and a great contributor to the music scenes of both Tāmaki Makaurau and Ōtepoti. For the last six months Scott had been holding on to this mug and waiting to gift it to me. It is a beautiful piece, white porcelain with a colourful landscape depicting a steel truss bridge with concrete piers carrying automobile traffic across a river. I have failed at my attempts to put a name to this particular bridge so if you have any ideas feel free to chime-in in the comments or send me an email at breakfastandtravelupdates@breakfastandtravelupdates.com
Scott Kendall right after showing up with this terrific mug.
Ōtepoti were a great crowd. They sung along with everything and delivered many unintelligible heckles. We ended the night with our friends from Dawn Diver, enjoying a quiet but still very celebratory cocktail. One more show to go.
To be an effective part of the tour party you need to have many skills and last night I was seconded to the traffic management unit. The results speak for themselves. No one was hurt and no vehicles were damaged while I was in charge of sheparding the van in and out of the driveway.
I’ll leave you with a shot of the mug safely back home and already in use.
And a lovely panorama to see the whole bridge.
Ka kite āno!