2006-09-06 || 5:55 p.m.

|| Auckland ||

Flying over New Zealand I get to see the most beautiful land I have ever seen. I keep trying to take pictures through the airplane window but just end up with a lot of blue. Gordon meets us at the airport in the brown corduroy jacket and jeans he mentioned he would be wearing. He has the most beautiful salt-and-peppery hair and jumps right in on talk of the weather and how the blue skies are somewhat unheard of for this time of year. Claudia drives us to our hotel in downtown Auckland, and she and Gordon brief us on New Zealand politics and the sights and what good bands have been through lately.

We are staying in a fancy suite complete with washer and dryer. We wash our clothes and you�d think we�d just discovered gold in the bathtub. We try to find a place to go and end up unwittingly crashing an office party at the bar across the street. We drink our drinks and watch office scandal unravel all around us. We leave the uncomfortable debauchery to walk around a bit and buy New Zealand souvenirs. Owen buys socks and postcards. We find another bar and sit down to four New Zealanders staring at us. Vodka tonic at this bar = a whole lot of straight vodka and a lime wedge, so I start talking. I tell them Owen is in a band and is touring. They ask us to grab his CD so they can play it. Owen is creeped out. We walk back to our hotel.

The next day Gordon picks us up to do a radio interview at the university. We wait in the lobby and meet Matthew, whom we both really like and get to see later at the show. Owen is whisked into the booth and puts his headphones on just in time to answer a barrage of questions from the DJ. I am thankful I sat this one out.

The show is at the Schooner Tavern down by the water. Gordon takes us to sound check and I try not to mourn the loss of Haima. Gordon is terribly generous and brings us the best falafel I�ve ever had. Owen curls up on a couch and creates a playlist on his iPod for house music. I keep taking pictures in the ladies� room (the walls were the most beautiful orangey pink, but none of them came out.).

Dudley Benson is the opening act. He is ridiculously adorable. I instantly want to take pictures of him in his tie and v-neck sweater. He has the most engaging stage presence and sings songs about Audrey Hepburn, Lady Fatima and his great great grandfather bringing willow shoots from Napoleon�s grave to New Zealand in a potato. James Duncan was very sweet and played a great electronic set; I wish I could have spent more time talking to him.

The Auckland crowd dances to Owen�s set, which is always nice to see. It still blows my mind that we can be so far away from home but still have people singing along to the lyrics. He plays �Young Shields� and they go kind of crazy. After my first song Owen starts up the next and I complain that he doesn�t let me talk between songs. Owen walks off stage and out the side door, so I�m standing very awkwardly, half for dramatic effect, half because I cannot think of anything exciting to say. He starts up again and I miss my cue on �Casiotone for the Painfully Alone in a Green Cotton Sweater.� Comic hilarity ensues. Kind of.

The next day we walk up to K street and have breakfast in the most beautiful dilapidated building ever, the Brazil Caf�. It is most definitely haunted and dark and arched like a bat cave. I have the best breakfast of my life. I realize I am officially a grown-up because Best Breakfast of My Life involves spinach.

See also:
Brisbane
Sydney
Adelaide
Melbourne
Wellington

previous || next || random

guestbook || notes || archives || profile || photos || d-land

Site Meter