highlights from my trip to new zealand, from an american who watches way too much nz comedy:
an embarrassing amount of this trip was inspired by either paul williams or new zealand today so i made sure to hit as many references as i could ♡
day 1: seeing tom cashman (nearly proficient comedian) and melanie bracewell (dilly dallying) at the nz international comedy fest in auckland, back-to-back! both were SO funny and had just the best energies
day 2: my birthday!! so i celebrated by having breakfast at federal deli of course. then i saw guy williams (rich people are stealing from you and blaming brown people and trans people and some people believe them aaahhhh!) who put on a very unhinged performance, but the highlight was meeting him after and getting him to sign his infamous “valice lavidad” post. he’s SUCH a sweetie and was lovely to chat to
day 3: the last laughs gala of the comedy fest! i initially got tickets just bc i knew it was hosted by guy montgomery but i had no idea what a treat i was in for! we had absolutely amazing seats as well. my fave bits were david correos having a breakdown on stage, nearly making me piss myself laughing, and a BANGER performance from two hearts!!! i also saw soooo many comedians in the lobby i was lowkey freaking out
(the list being: tom cashman, guy williams, james mustapic, abby howells, ray o’leary, brynley stent, guy montgomery, david correos, maria williams, bubbah, jack ansett, rhys mathewson, two hearts, angella dravid, melanie bracewell, sanjay patel, plus a few more i recognized but couldn’t place a name for immediately)
(despite seeing all of those ppl, this is the only pic i got that day LOL. pls enjoy guy montgomery’s backside)
day 4: visiting the iconic mount albert bbq noodle house(s). i went to the one on the left and my mom ordered from the one on the right lmao. i also visited sentinel beach this day! but the most important thing from today … I WENT TO A TMNZ RECORD!!! this was a dream come TRUE oh my god i had the best time there. i still feel so incredibly lucky that i was able to get tickets :’) AND i met the loml favorite man of all time paul williams after. truly a night to remember <33333
i’ll probably make a whole post about this at some point but oh my god i love taskmaster i love tmnz i love paul waahhhhh
day 5: not a whole lot actually. this was just a roadtrip day. but i WAS stoked to listen to jono and ben on the radio
day 6: on the way down i stopped in marton to get “the best chicken and chips in new zealand”. they were out of chips but i DID get the chicken and can confirm it slaps. then in wellington, i visited the iconic reading courtenay! it’s one of my favorite paul songs so it was amazing to see the sign in person. sadly it’s closed so i couldn’t go in, but even just seeing it was great. also not nz comedy related, but britcom-adjacent: i checked into the copthorne hotel bc it reminded me of capthorne :) my fave bbc ghosts ship lol
day 7: driving to nelson! if you know paul, you’ll know there’s 2 things he loves: fanta and nelson (and good lord have i been drinking a lot of fanta on this trip). we got there pretty late after taking the ferry but just being there gave me goosebumps ngl
day 8: touring nelson <3 we visited the iconic cleveland, nile, and trafalgar streets and of COURSE made a trip to clouston bridge. this song means SO much to me (does anyone remember my britcomtwt @/cloustonbridge?) so i’m not ashamed to say i started tearing up when i stood underneath it
8 days was honestly not enough in this beautiful country but i had the best time ever and i’m sooo grateful for everything i was able to do
