With 70 shows over 5 months in New Zealand coming to an end my next tour could only really be slightly less epic. However this tour ended up through one means or another to be the polar opposite to NZ.
I had originally scheduled my flight to land in Brisbane with the hope of touring south possibly as far as Melbourne and then possibly even touring my way back up to Brisbane. This plan faltered with the Queensland floods wiping out a couple of the venues and wiping out the likely hood of getting any bookings confirmed with the almighty unknown of when would everything be up and running again, I wasn`t even sure if the roads out of Brisbane would be open.
So plan B was the hope to go through a booking agent. Something I still 5 years into my career have never successfully done. Over the 1000+ shows I`ve played since going full time in early 2006 the only shows that I haven`t booked myself have support spots or they have been through friends. And I thank them truly. They know who they are. Plan B ended in the way I expected it to. With a series of non-replies and knock backs. I would love to have been able to told you they were beating down my door. But frankly. That would be a lie.
Plan C was more realistic which was to aim to get a handful of shows between Brisbane and Sydney. A circuit I have trodden on a couple of previous tours in 2007 and 2009 with a good friend and great performer in the name of Paul Greene. Paul himself was off the road but my memory served me to get in touch with spots I had frequented previously in the hope of picking up a few last min spots and vacant nights.
However, Then the earthquake in Christchurch hit. Luckily for myself I wasn`t in Christchurch and none of the wonderful people I know from there were hurt.
But with my exit flight from New Zealand scheduled to exit through there the following day it was safe to say the schedule was once again gonna face some changes. The vehicle hire and the bookings were all cancelled and instead of playing any shows I took the time to be a full time tourist for a while. I got to meet the locals (Kangaroos and Koalas) as well as hang out with some really friendly folks from Brisbane.
My thanks must be extended to the Bulow family especially Dorothy and Laura who gave us a roof and a ride many nights around the city. I even had some time to pen some new tunes. Sometimes stopping from the chaos can be a very wise move. Especially as things were about to become considerably more chaotic.
Next stop Bangkok!!!
Stoo
Stuart O'Connor 
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