In the words of Ice Cube…. Today was a good day.

Our lovely producer always sends us to Queenstown for a couple of days on our way to Invercargill… which is super nice because I know Queenstown most be the most expensive vacation spot to send a group of 9 to. So thank you International Entertainment!

I woke up in a bit of a panic…something I do often.  But especially today because there is so much to do or see and I just couldn’t fathom how I was going to fit everything into 24 hours!

But guess, what.  I did.

We went up the pine forrest of Ben Lomond’s Reserve on the Gondola.  They had imported a bunch of fir trees from America to make the mountain appear more like the quintessential image you see at ski resorts in Aspen.  What they didn’t plan on however, was that the climate is so much more conducive in New Zealand, that all the fir trees started growing more at the speed of weeds than large trees.  Now the reserve is on a mission to bring more Beach Trees in, which is native to New Zealand to remedy the situation.

We went luging with the cast, a family favorite tradition with Chuck.  It is always so cute to see him wear his big blue helmet and speed down the racetracks, taking his curves the same way he does with our tour van.

Sheena and I knew we wanted to up our game a little this year, so we decided to sign up for a 3 hour ziplining excursion, and in fact the steepest in the world.  So while the boys took the slow moving gondala back down the hill, we strapped into our harnesses and got ready to pop our zipline cherries.

Ziptrek was such an amazing company, it was a small group of us.  4 customers and 2 guides.

There were 6 lines in total and at each treehouse we stopped at, they would teach us some history behind New Zealand, and also explain to us their mission to become a more eco-friendly world.  Everything is solar powered and they have a mission of

Take Make Break and Cake

Take: We only take what nature can replace

Make: We only make what nature can process

Break: We avoid breaking nature

Cake: We ensure everyone’s basic needs are met worldwide

They also donate to a charity that provides loans to under-privileged people trying to make a difference in their families and communities.

Manaaki Whenua, Manaaki Tangata, Haere whakamua 

Care for the land, Care for the People, Go Forward.

Also Whakamua is pronounced (Fuck-a-Moa) Go Forward! 🙂

The Ziplining was amazing! We went upside down, did trustfalls, and sang at the top of our lungs, all while watching the most beautiful views.

Afterwords we found THE BEST onion rings at a vegan burger spot.  So good that I dropped one on my dirty motel floor and still ate it.

Oh and amazing Ice cream

So yes, Today was a good day!

The sting of the long drive from Christchurch to Queenstown, was softened by the… as Sheena would say… Gorgeous scenery.

Last year we go a very late start to this 6 hour drive because Fernando had to go to the ER due to tonsillitis, so a lot of the drive happened in the dark.  This year, no tonsillitis and daytime driving.  6 hours of snow covered mountains, sheep, rolling green hills, big glassy lakes….not too shabby.

Like all our drives, they oscillated between cat naps, sing-alongs, and Chuck’s funny stories.  We made 1 cafe stop, 2 bathroom stops, 1 petrol stop, and 1 kodak moment.

We pulled into Queenstown while it was still light out (which isn’t saying much because it doesn’t get dark here until about 10pm).  We are only staying a few blocks away from the main town, so we walked to a nice thai restaurant that, when we sat down, asked if anyone was Vegan and handed me a special menu.  THANK YOU QUEENSTOWN!

The street performers in New Zealand are really fun.  They know how to work a crowd and share their stories and talents.  I was selected to help remove a 2 foot sword out of a man’s throat.  LOOK WHO’S THE MAGICIAN NOW!

Tomorrow is an adventure day! AND tonight I’m going to sleep with a full stomach!

 

 

I have to admit…

On nights like tonight, writing a blog is the last thing I feel like doing.  But I made a commitment to myself and my 3 readers (hehe) so here I am.

It was a 3 show-day at Villa Maria College, Christchurch today.

11am, 2pm, and 5pm.

It was storming outside and the perfect day to be in a warm bed, but instead I was in fishnets (which don’t keep you warm by the way… for those of you who’ve never worn them).

I really am super grateful for my life and these tours…I just feel a little cold grumpy and hungry tonight 🙂

The matinee shows are always mostly young children.  They rush the stage…laugh, cry, scream.  It’s always surprise what reaction we will get!  The little girls always want to come take pictures with Sheena and I after the show commenting on our sparkly outfits.  The boys like to talk to Chuck, Mark, and Brendan and say “I figured out how you did that one!”

All the shows were really successful today, and the team really is finding our groove.

I lost one of my favorite earrings today, either during a quick change, in a box, or at some point when I was spinning around on stage.  That was definitely a sad moment, but I’ve been practicing “Relaxing and Allowing” this past month so maybe this is just part of that journey.

Tomorrow we have a 6.5 hour drive to Queenstown, the adventure town of New Zealand!

Half our cast is sick (the boys..cough cough) so wish Sheena and I luck for a full day in the van.

 

Today we said goodbye to not only Wellington, but also to the entire North Island.  We will be back again in a couple of weeks to finish the tour, but for now we are making our way up and down the South Island of New Zealand.

I still haven’t made up my mind about which island is my favorite.  The South Island has some of my favorite theaters, but I also always get sick in the freezing underbelly of Invercargill.

We took a small plane from Wellington to Christchurch…only about 45 minutes long and never rising high enough to get lost in the clouds.

We rented a new car.  Starting to go delirious with all the driving.

We stopped at the grocery store and then checked into our Inn for the next two nights.

Fernando had his big show at the Microsoft Theater today…so we were able to Facetime him backstage and wish him luck.

We headed to Villa Maria College to set up for our 3 shows tomorrow.

 

We made a quick stop at the mall on our way home to get some crafts for a secret project Sheena and I are working on (stay tuned).

I made dinner and writing my blog before midnight everyone!

I’ll be honest, I felt a little homesick today…which rarely happens to me on tour.

We had the day off in Wellington and I spent the first half video chatting with my family, watching them cook my favorite Vegan Thanksgiving dishes… while I ate a packet of instant miso soup and battled it out with my drying rack.

 

 

After sometime of feeling sorry for myself, my rumbling tummy kicked in and Sheena, Brendan, and I decided to go downstairs from our Apartment to a cute part of town, Lambton Quay (pronounced Key), to go shopping and get some lunch.  New Zealand may not celebrate Thanksgiving.. but they sure do cash in on Black Friday.

One of our favorite stores out here is called Glassons… a cute clothing store I feel justified to buy from because it’s only in New Zealand.  Brendan was the perfect temporary tour boyfriend for both Sheena and I…waiting patiently and holding our purses outside the dressing room as we tried on multiple pairs of jeans.

Ladies…any takers?

He even bought a cool pair of show shoes, which he got discounted by asking the manager “If I blow your mind with a magic trick…will you give me a discount?”

And thus her mind was blown…

 

We ended the night on the waterfront with a cute italian restaurant called Portofinos.  I may not have been able to spend the day with my family, but I am definitely grateful for my home away from home with this magnificent Tour Family.

 

Tomorrow we fly to the South Island !

It’s well past midnight and I’m exhausted but I suddenly can’t sleep…partially because I have the day off tomorrow!!! and partly because I had a frozen coke from Burger King (the one vegan item on their menu during our dinner stop)……..

It was quite the day.

I woke up to a beautiful sunrise in Napier.  I slept with my big french doors open listening to the ocean waves crashing all night.  One of my favorite New Zealand things is the fact that a lot of the beds have heated mattresses…that allow me to do superfluous things like sleep with doors open.

We stopped to have breakfast at a really cute cafe (Ujazi Cafe) on our way out of town.

 

Napier has a 1930’s style.  In 1931 a 7.8 Earthquake hit the town, and everything was rebuilt in an Art Deco style.

We drove 2.5 hours to Palmerston North where we performed at the Speirs Centre Boys High.  It was a successful show and the audience was very sweet.  Palmerston North has a magic club, so a bunch of Magicians that have known Chuck for many years came to support.

 

We finished packing up the show around 10pm and made our way to our Hotel in Wellington– another 2 hours away.

We made sure to put together high-energy playlists for us to all sing along to on the drive, and keep Chuck awake.  We had a Musicals playlist with songs from Grease, Chicago, Mama Mia, RENT, and Disney films.  We had an 80s playlist where Brendan took lead with all the harmonies of Total Eclipse of the Heart.  We even introduced Chuck to some Tenacious D. (although he may not understand some of vulgar innuendos until he is grown up).

We pulled up to the Gilmore Apartments around midnight.

 

It’s a cute room (not haunted this time) and the best part of all…. cue angelic music….

CLEAN UNDIES!

The perfect Thanksgiving gift! And a day off tomorrow! Wooo hooo!

Goodnight!

(ps. and yes my stomach does hurt from that Frozen coke…and my dignity)

(pps. How can something frozen still have carbonation???)

 

Gisborne to Napier today.

Good Drive.

Good Show.

Hot tub in my bedroom.

Gotta go!

 

The day started out pretty excitingly with A 6-hour drive from Hamilton to Gisborne and then a show in the same day…so I wasn’t expecting it to end with the same amount of stamina.

I was going to write about the road trip…the amazing sing-along playlist I made, all the pretty trees and sheep, and how we had such a lovely show at the Gisborne War Memorial Theatre …

…but I’m changing gears now because we had some Drammmaaaaaa!

Brendan Dooley, our yougin’ on the tour who is quickly becoming one of my favorite Kiwis, decided to kick things up a notch at the end of the show…running into a door frame (Tall People Problems) on his way out to the Meet n’ Greet.  I guess Brendan needed a little bit more attention since Chuck sometimes forgets him in the back of the van asleep.

So tonight, when we were all just sitting down to sign autographs, Brendan turns to me with a bloody hand and says in the best New Zealand accident “Crikey, I think my head might be bleeding”

I look over to him, and witness what looks like a murder scene.  Streams of blood pouring down the right side of his head from his hairline.  And before he could further ruin his image for all the children that had just been idolizing on stage… I took him backstage to make him look….well more presentable.

I first called Sofiane (our sound technician) over since he took on the title of “Doctor Sofiane” last year on tour….but was told he could not deal with any sight of blood and had recently fainted in his wife’s lamaze class.  So I asked Al for some assistance, and together the two of us rummaged through the first aid kit, trying to stick bandages on his hair and anything else we could find that looked somewhat helpful.

I think we did a decent job.  After Brendan’s head-bandage was in place he asked if he could go sign some posters.  He wanted to cash in on some pity sales.

Thank you Gisborne! We definitely went out with a BANG tonight!

It was another 2-Show day at The Clarence St Theatre in Hamilton.

Hamilton has a cool Rocky Horror Picture Show tribute , because Richard O’Brien (writer/creator) lived here for awhile. Here is Chuck and I doing the Time Warp againnnnnnn in front of a statue of Riff Raff.

...and a step to the right….and pull your knees in tight

The audiences were great tonight, and I think I finally broke my streak of foolish mistakes I was making on stage. Let’s hope…

Tomorrow we have a bigggg day. A 6 hour drive to Gisborne and a show at 5!  Eek.

 

Ps. Here is my bruise update!

A quick and easy travel day today, which is a blessing after yesterdays double-whammy.

Tauranga to Hamilton.

Got to stop at one of my favorite beaches here at Mt. Maunganui , the first ocean I ever stuck my feet into down-under, two years ago.

Mt. Maunganui is an extinct volcano standing at 232m high.  And as a callback to my first blog here…The old Maori (native) legend of how Maunganui got it’s name goes like this:

The nameless summit was so in love with Puwhenua, a nearby, beautiful, green hill, but she belonged to another.  Heartbroken, he asked the patupaiarehe (the magical night people) to fasten him with ropes and draw him into the ocean to drown.  The patupaiarehe could only get so far before the sun came up, and thus the summit was named Maunganui, translating to “Caught by the morning sun.”

The beach here has such a joyful spirit to it.  I found a seashell that just made me want to laugh and laugh, and I couldn’t help but twirl when the cold water washed over my feet.

I practice this visual meditation quite often at home…where I picture writing some fear or experience I’d like to release in the sand.  Then the wave comes and washes it away.  I attempted to do this quite literally here at the beach, but everytime could only get partway through my fear before the water washed over it.  This too made me laugh and laugh.

Also the salt water was super refreshing for these banged up legs after last night’s shows.

Looking forward to a long rest tonight before our next show tomorrow!