On tour with the Wallfisch Band

I'm writing from a motel room in Hamilton, NZ at the moment. Today is a day off in the middle of the Wallfisch Band's tour of the North Island. We played in Wellington two days ago, then in Napier last night. Tomorrow night we play here in Hamilton, followed by the final concert in Auckland on Monday night. This final concert is being recorded live by Radio NZ concert, so we'll all have to nail our music then! It has been an awesome experience working with Elizabeth Wallfisch, her colleagues and the other NZ musicians - I just wish the tour could have been extended to the South Island; it would have been fantastic to take the programme down there and to travel around the breathtaking landscape.

Today was a travel day - we drove from Napier to Hamilton and had time to stop off for some touristy activities. It was a beautiful day with fantastic countryside views. We were all squeezed into one travel van, which made it feel like a real band tour. We stopped in Taupo for lunch, then had a small break at a great place called the Honey Hive; a shop selling fantastic honey and honey products. There was free tasting too, so I took advantage of this and sampled some very tasty honey wine and even some honey whiskey, which was my personal favourite. With a manuka chestnut icecream in hand, we continued on and stopped at some local mud pools. It was just a look though, as the mud pools were boiling and blurping like mad. If we'd jumped in for a dip, we would have quickly bobbed to the surface as screaming, steaming carcasses of burnt flesh.

The Europeans amongst us were delighted to see all the sights along the way - for some of them it's been their first time in NZ. Hopefully they will be inspired to return, for Wallfisch Band tour No. 2!