Auckland

Having skipped Friday the 13th on crossing the dateline, we arrived in Auckland on a wet and windy Saturday morning, the excitement at finally getting off the plane outweighing the sinking realisation that we had to try and stay awake for another 15 hours. Once a certain countertenor had finally got through customs with only a warning letter for not declaring an apple, we were on the way to the hotel. The first piece of “tour banter” soon followed, with a future King’s bass desperate to get rid of the aeroplane curry earlier consumed. We were determined not to have a repeat of the festival standard coach toilet smell experienced in Germany, and being only 5 minutes away from the hotel, we thought it reasonable, with said bass being a big boy now, for him to hold on. However, after the driver took a sceinic route across the bridge and back, and used our hotel block as a roundabout a few times while he got his bearings, 5 minutes easily became an hour, leaving the King’s bass sprinting-cum-waddling into the hotel foyer. A hilarious start to the tour was a sign of good things to come.

Anyway, onto the singing. Heavily jetlagged, we went straight into the morning service at Auckland cathedral, just about singing Tallis’s Salvator Mundi over the deafening crickets during Communion. We received an exceptional welcome at tea following the service, typical of the receptions we have since been given throughout New Zealand. After lunch in the surrounding Parnell neighbourhood, we began rehearsals for evensong in the Old St Mary’s cathedral. This beautiful wooden church was moved across the street about 20 years ago on railway tracks, something that we have since found out is a relatively common practice in New Zealand, but nonetheless seems bizarre. In the summer heat however, it felt like we were singing in a sauna, and we were glad to take a break before the service. Evensong itself went well in the heat, backed up by great organ playing from Philip Smith, a fellow Brit in Auckland. We were rewarded with a buffet at a Thai restaurant, and the exhaustion felt by all was illustrated by a year 7 treble blissfully falling asleep on his plate, which unfortunately still contained his dinner. Still, by the next day the only person still jetlagged was Simon Ferris, who was also fighting a cold, and we were ready for the rest of the tour.

Charlie Kimber (U6)