Not only was today a 2-show day- but it was also our FIRST two shows- so you can imagine the amount of bumps, bruises, and exhaustion setting in.

The TAURANGA  crowd was lovely and VERY forgiving to any mistakes they may or may not have witnesses us making.  I always love the beginning of the process of a new show.  It’s fun to see how -over time- everyone starts to develop together and predict each others needs, and because of that, the show gets quicker and more fluid.

Tonight…Not so much…

Last year, If you followed my blog, you’ll remember that Chuck lost my dance shoes right at the top of the trip in TAURANGA.  And it was quite a journey to find a new pair.   So these babies are exactly a year old and got to perform in their home town tonight 🙂

*There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.

It was a 12 hour day at the theater-and as we are breaking down and loading out all the props –  a heated discussion  broke out about people who roll their toilet paper under vs. those who roll it over (the inferior)?  This is something i seriously NEVER learned nor thought about.  I didn’t know of these toilet paper subcultures…and now it’s making me think back on anytime I put a new roll on for someone..Do they secretly change it after I leave?

What’s your thoughts?

Today was our first big driving day.  Auckland to Taurunga.  A drive that normally would take 2.5 hours, ended up more like 5 because of a wrong turn.

The great thing about wrong turns in New Zealand though, is that every path you take is breathtaking.

We stopped at a cute like cafe to have lunch.  Each year I back to this country, I’m more and more surprised at the amount of Vegan options (pronounced VAYGAN)  included in their menus.

 

Today we set up all the props and got situated for our first show tomorrow at the Bethlehem College Theater in Taurunga.  There’s a bunch of new tricks and acts that we have never performed together, and we still have yet to run through them.  But I’m starting to realize that’s how the magic biz works! I’m confident it will be a great day tomorrow.

Goodnight everyone!

 

Today has been a fairly relaxed day,  I spent the first half  in a pillow fort I made on the floor for my Red Tent day while we waited for the rest of our cast to arrive.

Like I mentioned earlier, the format of the show this year is a little different.  First of all, we no longer have the amazing Fernando..as he is on a big tour with Champions of Magic…and for any of you available, you should totally check out his show at the Microsoft Theater Nov. 23 and Nov. 24. He’s doing crazy things! Love you pinche!

https://www.microsofttheater.com/events/detail/championsofmagic2018

So this year we have 3 magician’s sharing the stage.  Mark arrived first.  He’s cool people.  We met in LA to a couple of months ago so he could teach Sheena and I his illusions.  Mark is mostly known for his tall stature- and although we are good friends now, he may soon get frustrated that I’m making all 6 ft 6″ of him sit in the back of the Van while I take shotgun. 🙂

Next Brendan arrived.  A local Kiwi from Christchurch who will be performing a Comedy Magic Act.  We just met today and he’s already propositioned both Sheena and I to marry him for a green card…plus he came up with one of the most epic games Twinning (to be described below) that we surely will be playing the remainder of this trip … So he too is good peeps.

We met with the World Festival of Magic Team earlier- our family away from home.  These lovely angels always do such an amazing job hosting us and creating such a friendly and fun tour for us.  One of my favorite parts about coming back to NZ is to see their shining faces…and Harley the dog of course.

Later they hosted us at a very fancy dinner…

…with a lovely chaise lounge in the Ladies room, which first gave Sheena and I the idea of a photo shoot..and later gave Brendan the idea for Twinning…

TWINNING

Girl’s Restroom

 

Boy’s Restroom

 

 

The 4 of us have only been together one night so far….so this could go either really wrong or really right!

Let the Games begin!

(Tomorrow we actually start doing some work)

This post is going to be short and sweet since we’ve been traveling for the past 24 hours…However, I have committed, once again to a daily blog post whilst on this 5 week tour in New Zealand.

This marks my third tour with the World Festival of Magic – New Zealand, and although some of the towns, theaters, and scenarios may sound familiar from my last 2 annual blogs, we have some new stuff in store – including new magicians, new tricks, and a new perspective. So let’s get started!

…Our journey began as soon as we reached LAX.  Apparently a plane coming into the tarmac clipped the Air New Zealand plane we were supposed to be on, causing severe damage to its stabilizer, and forcing it to stay grounded for a few days.

Smart decision I’d say.

But that also left a whole group of confused and excited passengers inquiring about how they were going to get to Auckland.  Including Chuck, Sheena, and myself.

We were put on a flight with QANTAS Airlines a few hours later that would take us to Brisbine, Australia.  From there we would have a connecting flight to Auckland.   They rushed us away without a connecting boarding pass…telling me that they would have no vegan meal available due to the short notice…Oh and also we would all have middle seats now.

Not only was our flight then delayed, but it also felt like a much longer flight to Brisbane than to Auckland, (possibly due to lack of food and congested sinuses).  By the time we landed we only had an hour to go find our luggage, go through customs, get a new boarding pass- now through Virgin Airlines- and board our plane.

The problem was, that we couldn’t get to baggage claim, because we couldn’t get through customs, because we don’t have Australian Visas, BECAUSE WE WEREN’T SUPPOSED TO BE IN AUSTRALIA!  So after much running back and forth, a representative printed us a new boarding pass and ensured us that our luggage would make it to Auckland with us.  With no other choice (unless we wanted to pull a Tom Hank’s from Terminal) we decided to trust the nice lady with the neck scarf, and board our plane.

Right as the plane was taking off, I realized I left my favorite jean jacket on the previous flight..leaving me to grieve its loss without being able to control the outcome for the next 3 hours (a good life practice I suppose).

When we finally made it to Auckland, our luggage was no where to be seen, and my jean jacket hadn’t been found.  They are all probably hanging out somewhere in Brisbane having a costume party.

The three of us slumped our way to the rental car office…tired, hungry, and realizing we were going to be wearing the same underwear again tomorrow.

But you know what they say…

A BAD DRESS REHEARSAL = A GREAT SHOW! So I just know that this year is going to be a blast!