Advertisement
Published: August 11th 2007
August 9th
Well, we made it. The trip down was fun. The scenery was nice and we took lots of pictures. Of course, ball-of-dirt is being silly right now so I'm not sure how long it will be before we can post them. Anyway, we checked into a hostel around the corner, and have pretty much just been walking around getting a feel for the city since we've been here. But I still Miss Wellington. I miss my friends, I miss the hostel, and I even miss my job believe it or not. I think it's just because of how new and different Dunedin is. However, I don’t remember feeling this way when I first arrived in Wellington. Or even Auckland for that matter. It's weird, because I haven't even missed home as much as I miss Wellington. Figure that one out. But whatever, it probably just takes some adapting. I just need to get a job, and get settled into the hostel and make some friends. Although, I'm not sure how long I will be here. As much as I say "I just need to adapt" I'm not sure because it's different with Dunedin. The whole thing just feels
Richard and I
Still on the phone with Mattdifferent. It feels wrong. Auckland was different, but in a good way. Wellington was different, but in a good way. Dunedin is different as well, but not in a way quite like the others. It's more like a "this sucks I want to go home" kind of way. Guess we'll just have to see how tomorrow goes. I just got done sending John an e-mail. He's the manager of the hostel I was staying at in Wellington. I applied for a job, so if I can acquire one I am going to head back up there. This whole thing is complicated, but hey I've been here for 3 hours so what am I bitching about.
August 12th
Well, we've been here for a few days now. So far it hasn't been too bad. Before we left Wellington we talked to a lot of people about Dunedin, and some of them gave us some helpful hints. However, one thing in particular that I am very much noticing is how much of a College town this is. There are always young (18-25) people wandering the streets. There are heaps of cars full of college kids driving by all the time.
Richard
See we are good boys / He's reading the bible The other night we were walking down the street and this Old, Green, Chevy comes driving buy packed with young guys. They had their music cranked, and the song they were listening to was (Girls just wanna have Fun). The only thing I could think was "Man I wish my brothers were here right now" because they would of laughed just as hard as I did.
New Zealand Fashion
Since being in New Zealand I have noticed that there is a significant difference in fashion. Actually, Richard and I were just discussing this a little while ago. New Zealand definitely has an 80's thing going on. A lot of the people in our age group are always wearing tight black pants, poofy hair, band shirts, etc. I can’t even begin to count how many "Iron Maiden" and "Guns N Roses" t-shirts I have seen since being here. I remember when I was in Wellington, one day I walked by a group of young kids probably 12-13 years old, and one of them had on a GNR shirt. That was funny to see. But we didn't really think about it too hard until just recently when we were outside
smoking a cigarette, watching all the people walk buy with their 80's clothes. Richard said "Maybe it's a new thing that's going on. I haven't been home in over a year so maybe the same thing is happening in Canada" ha-ha Anyway, It's interesting living here for reasons such as this. There are a lot of little things like this that I never see back home.
August 14th
Well we have been here for a few days now, and we are getting use to our surroundings. Dunedin is a nice town. It has the most Scottish Heritage than anywhere else in New Zealand, with the only kilt shop in the country. Every time I walk by it reminds me of Axl Rose ha-ha. Well, I have applied for a few jobs but haven't gotten a call back yet. Today I am going to go around again and try some different places. I still would like to get a job at a Hostel so I can get free accommodation, but that's harder than getting a regular job. It needs to be good timing or something because hostels aren't always hiring. On Thursday we plan to move into a
Robert Burns
This is a statue of Robert Burns which is located in the Octagon with his back to the Church different hostel, because the one we are currently at is very costly. The woman who owns the other one said that there is possibility of work, so I am anxious to go see what the deal is with that. Other than that, Richard and I have pretty much been hanging out, taking in the town. It's a little colder than Wellington, but there is still no snow, so not it’s too bad. I like it here, but am still anxious to see other places. Ever since being in New Zealand all I've heard about is Queenstown. That is where the action is supposed to be. It's the most popular New Zealand tourist destination so I’m anxious to see it. Well that's all for now.
August 17th - Possible Gigs
The other night, Richard and I were walking around and we walked by a bar called ISIS. As we were walking by I noticed that there was a Grand Piano inside right near the front window. So I walked in and asked the guy behind the bar if they had any live music. He informed me that they did, and also mentioned that on Thursday nights there is
an open mic. So, I asked him who I would talk to in order to line up a gig, and he told me to go to a bar called Ra Bar (same owner) and talk to a girl named Jessica who does the booking. So, the next day I went there, met Jessica and discussed how I could acquire a gig. She told me that what I should do is go to the open mic at ISIS and before I go on give her a text and she will come watch me. Then, if I do alright she would then give me a gig. So last night I went to the open mic and played about 10 songs. Sadly, she never came even though I texted her, but it was still enjoyable because I love playing. However, the guy that was running the open mic is one of those guys who's been around for a while and knows the owners/managers. So when I was done playing, he told me that he thought I did very well, and he would talk to Jessica the next time he sees her and tell her to give me a gig. Sweet, Right?
On
Sock Finger
People like giving the camera the Finger for some reason. Maybe they're just giving it to me and I dont know hah a side note, I also went to a few other bars and asked about gigging. One is called the Craic, and the other I don’t recall the name of. But basically, both of these establishments informed me that the odds of me getting a gig for a Friday / Saturday night are very good. Basically, what I need to do is go in some time and discuss it with the people who do the booking. The girl behind the counter at the Craic even said to bring my guitar in sometime and play a few songs so they can see what I sound like.
The thing is, Dunedin is a college town, meaning the bars have quite a young crowd on weekends. Basically, it's my kind of crowd. So I am very excited because all I need to do is get my foot in the door. Once I do a gig or two, I'm positive they will want me to come back. Who knows, I might even be able to line up a few gigs a week and that will put me in a position where I can do this as a job, because I have applied to a
lot of places and haven't gotten any call backs which kind of scares me seeing how my expenditures are only going down, not up. Today while I was on my way back from town, I just randomly walked into yet another bar to see what the gig possibilities are, and this place looked very promising as well. It seems like all I need to do is list some of the bands I like and/or some of the songs I play and people say, "Wow that's perfect". So, I'm going to start putting all of my energy into getting gigs and playing music. We'll just have to see what happens.
Tourist Day - August 20th
Today we went on a two and a half hour walk. We wanted to go see the Worlds Steepest Street which is in Dunedin, and was about a 45 minute walk from the hostel. When we got there we took some pictures which I have posted. I decided that I wanted to try to run up the hill, which was a bad decision. Three quarters of the way up I thought I was going to either faint or throw up ha-ha. But other
Me
In our room at the new hostel than that it was all fun. While we were on our way back, I got a text message from that girl who never came to see me that night I played at the ISIS bar. She asked me if I wanted a gig tomorrow night and obviously I said yes. I'm pretty excited about it. Should be pretty fun, and I could use the money. She said it'd be like 20 dollars an hour so that's not bad. If I do well I'm sure I can line up some more, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Isis Bar Gig - August 22nd
I played a gig last night at a bar called Isis. It went alright but I didn't do 100%!t(MISSING)hat’s for sure. It was really fun, but was a lot different than I had imagined. It was a Tuesday night so there weren't that many people there. I feel that I do better when I have a crowd to work off of. Plus, the microphone wasn't very good. But whatever, I made the best of it and still had a good time. I love playing, so I just looked at the whole thing like practice,
Bell Tower
This Bell Tower is right near the hostel and we hear it ring every day all day every 15 minutes. plus I'm getting paid so, what the heck. But I may have lined up another gig for Friday at an Irish Pub called the Craic. So we'll see how that goes...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.504s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 10; qc: 51; dbt: 0.1316s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
