A Great week in New Zealand!

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I have always enjoyed going to New Zealand.  Of course it is such a long way to travel in the first place and this time was no different!  After a 26 hour journey from London, I made it to Auckland to be met by my good friend Elizabeth Marvelly with whom I have had the pleasure of touring with 3 times.  The concert, To Christchurch with Love was her brainchild and was the reason I had made the journey.  Elizabeth was there to welcome me with a camera crew from New Zealand’s public service broadcaster NZTV.  I think that I surprised Elizabeth by agreeing to come so far when I wasn’t coming that way at that stage.

I had no doubt in my mind or any hesitation.  For two reasons: a) because New Zealand is such a beautiful place, and it was the perfect excuse to make a trip and more importantly because b) because New Zealand was one of the first places in the world to take me in to their hearts.  I have always been a firm believer in karma – what comes around goes around.  So I was determined that if my diary was clear then I would come.

I arrived at the house at which I would spend much of the next week to be greeted by the sound of a dog sniffing the bottom of the front door, and by the volume of the sniffing, I was expecting a huge dog.  it turned out to be a tiny Jack Russell by the name of Bella, who greeted me by barking at me.  By the generosity of the house owner Seeby Woodhouse, I was given his master bedroom with its floor to ceiling openable windows.  The first few nights, seeing as we were by the sea, I decided to leave the windows open, thinking that the sea air would help me sleep.  it did the trick very well, but I was woken in the night by the sound of mosquitoes, for which I was a welcome (for them, at least) midnight snack.  I braved it for two and a half nights, enjoying the fresh air.  The third night, the high pitched buzzing, plus the itchy bites on my arms meant that I then kept the windows shut.  At this point I didn’t know that the mosquitoes would play havoc with me for the next week.

By the eve of the show, I found myself having some pain in my left ankle. It was enough to make me limp a little, but I didn’t pay it much heed.  The next morning after a good night’s rest with the windows firmly shut, the pain eased, and I thought it was just an irritation.  Things soon changed and by late afternoon, it became painful to walk.  Elizabeth kindly made some enquiries and a doctor she knew suggested me popping in to North Shore hospital in Auckland to get it checked.  Thinking it was probably just an allergic reaction to a bite, I figured I would just be given some strong antihistamines and allowed on my way.

On arrival after an examination by the emergency centre registrar, I was informed that what I had was actually cellulitis, a severe skin infection that could, if left untreated lead to septicaemia, or blood poisoning.  This quite shocked me.  They told me that I would need to be put on an intravenous drip to have some antibiotics given to me.  I feared that after going so far to perform at the concert that I would then let everyone down by not being able to make it to the concert, as the medical team was seriously contemplating admitting me for three days.  It all depended on me being able to take the drugs intravenously.

I knew that this would not be uncomplicated, as I tend to be a bit like a pin cushion as far as needles go.  I’m not scared of them in the slightest, it’s just that my veins tend to be terrified of them and go into hiding!  When I was in hospital having a 4 inch tumour removed the nightly blood test round would be a battle of wits with my veins.  When I was knocked from my bicycle 4 months later, the ambulance technician was unable to find a vein to give me pain relief for my severely fractured collar-bone so gave me nitrus oxide (laughing gas) which left me feeling drunk, a feeling I hate, so I refused it and just gritted my teeth.

The charge nurse Carole tried valiantly to find a vein but was unable to persuade any to be stabbed.  After an hour of trying, me making it to the concert was looking more and more unlikely.  Along came a friendly charge nurse from the intensive care unit who is used to finding unwilling veins, and after a few goes he managed to find one and within 30 minutes I was allowed to go to the concert.  On leaving, he thanked me for coming to New Zealand to perform for Christchurch as he had lost his mum in the CTV building (it was his first day back at work).  I made it to the venue just before the concert was about to start, much to the relief of Elizabeth, and myself.

I told the story of my hospital visit to the audience and dedicated my performance of Nessun Dorma to the staff of North Shore hospital and in particular to the charge nurse from ICU and his mum.  I enjoyed my performance immensely, and it was great to sing with Elizabeth again.  We had a fantastic response from the audience at the Bruce Mason Centre in Takapuna.  So far about NZ$ 120,000 has been raised for New Zealand Red Cross, and it is a testament to Elizabeth’s hard work that such a great event was organised in only 5 weeks.

I would like to pay tribute to so many people not just to those involved in the concert.  There are workmen working 16 hours a day knee deep in raw sewage to keep the electricity flowing.  So many people are working flat out to make sure that people in the area have the minimum services to live a civilised life.  they continue to work through after shocks.

I was looked after very well the whole time I was in New Zealand, and I would like to thank Seeby Woodhouse for allowing me to steal his master bedroom, his business manager, Karen for looking after me and to everyone in New Zealand for giving me such a warm warm welcome into their beautiful country.  It is always a pleasure to come, and I always find I never have enough time there.

Tika Hoki, Aotearoa!