Auckland

We did Whales in Aotea Square on Wednesday evening, and it went really well. We had our first proper chat with someone from Project Jonah, which is interesting because there was that big stranding at Farewell Spit right after ours. Apparently we've got the general idea right, and we were curious to hear that it actually normal to give your whale a name, something that happens a lot in the strandings. Claire was Spot this time I think. Being far from the sea, the end involved fun with buckets.

We visited the US consulate and sorted our visas for New York after much waiting and forms. So we can officially work on the festival.

Break Up was good fun (for us anyway) too. First time at Basement since 2010, and the space and the culture is looking really great. We got the live stream of the show working, which attracted nearly as many people as the live version, which hopefully justifies all the fiddling with internets and webcams. It got pretty nasty at the end but Joel says he is fine and it was only pretend. Six hours is pretty taxing on the old sanity.

Next stop: Hamilton Gardens Festival for Whales and Future Guidance!