Hi Folks

May has come around so quickly and the year seems to be racing by. Two of our main events fall in May.

Bay of Islands Festival

The first was the Bay of Island Country Rock Festival held on the 10^th, 11^th and 12^th. Once again we were supported by The Mountain Mist Band performing 4 shows during the weekend. The first at the Paihia Pacific followed by Haruru Falls on the Friday night and then one each Saturday and Sunday back at the Paihia Pacific and Haruru Falls respectively. The Saturday show being a shortened version of our Patsy and Jim tribute show. We also did the busking this year for the first time ever. Thank you to everyone that stopped and listened and bought cd’s and also to the line dancers that showed off their moves to our music on both days, that was awesome. We managed to catch up with old friends and we apologize to those that we could not get to see. Hopefully we will cross paths somewhere down the line. Before you realise it the weekend has gone by. Thank you to Shirley for inviting us to perform and all the motels that provided accommodation for the performers. Thank you to Richard, Ian, Tiny and Andrew for their continued support. We really do enjoy performing with you all. Thanks also to our good friend Dennis for being our busking sound man, even on a chilly Sunday morning after a long Saturday night. We look forward to next year’s festival.

Norfolk Island Festival

The following week was our trip to Norfolk Is for the 20^th anniversary of the Country Music Festival. We had a large and enthusiastic group of 39 people joining us this year for the celebrations. We had been planning this tour since last year so we were fairly well organised. Have a look at our photos.

Just to be on the safe side I went out to Annette’s place the Wednesday night before we flew out, that being the following Sunday, to pack our carry on bags and weigh them. That was all good so I said good night see you on Saturday and headed home. At around 12:00 o’clock that night I received a distressed phone call from Annette saying her passport had expired. Oh no. To cut a long story short, after a hectic Thursday that included a rushed trip to Auckland and back to drop off documents and photos, Annette was asked to return on Friday at 4:30pm to see if her passport would be ready. There were no guarantees. Annette and I duly did this and her new passport was ready. Crisis averted well done Annette. Now it was off to Norfolk.

What a great week we had on Norfolk celebrating 20 years of country music festivals. The Headliner for New Zealand was Dennis Marsh supported by Marion Burns, Kevin Greaves and 2012 Trans-Tasman EOY Hayley Smith. They put on an awesome show on the Monday night. This was followed on Tuesday night by an equally impressive show by the Australian Headliners, Adam Harvey and Beccy Cole supported by Amber Joy Poulton, Paul Costa and a special appearance by Libby O’Donovan. The backing bands were The Huckleberries with Echo ‘n’ Harmony providing bv’s for New Zealand and Australian band 4 Play. All the shows for the week were held in the marquee which was especially set up for the anniversary week. I am sure it brought back a lot of memories for a few people as the marquee was a regular sight at many of the previous festivals.

However, before the week commenced we had our regular welcome dinner, held this year at the Bowling Club, where everyone in the group could mix and mingle and get to know one another. We even managed to organize a group photo during all the merriment. From there the week continued with the half day tour to familiarize everyone with the island lay out. The following days were filled with the mini golf competition and Norfolk Island dvd and quiz( certainly some scholars in this group), Island Fish Fry, Traditional Dinner, which showcased some exceptional singing talent, RSL lunch and Annette and Kim concert and finally the Farewell Dinner held at the Heritage Hill Hotel Bar and Restaurant. In between all this a kiwi won the converted Trans-Tasman EOY 2013 Award, congratulations Kylie Ann Price. This young lady is an amazing singer/songwriter. Watch out for her. Also, Aussie 80’s band “Mental as Anything” performed for the local volunteers at the 20^th Birthday Celebration Night which they all thoroughly enjoyed.

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Unfortunately the week had to come to an end. I am sure everyone had a great time. Due to the enclimate weather we didn’t get to swim at Emily Bay but there’s always next year. We would like to thank Chrissy and Rebecca and the team at The Travel Centre for helping us put together such a wonderful Norfolk Island tour. You are all amazing to work with. Thank you also to Megan at Baunti Escapes for providing personalized tour activities for our group. We also totally recommend the ipod tours available through Baunti.    We look forward to seeing you all again next year. Once again thank you to our tour group for making our week on Norfolk so enjoyable as well. We look forward to seeing some if not all of you again next year to celebrate the 20^th year of the Trans-Tasman Entertainer of the Year Award. Until next time.

Take care and keep it country.

Annette and Kim