The gathering of the UK techno clans

We touched down in Wellington early on Friday, to be greeted by a giant Gollum straddling the airport. A high drama ensued when I left my bag in the taxi and had to sprint 400m through two sets of lights. I must have looked a sight – a chick with purple hair running along the centre of Wellington flapping my arms and desperately hoping that the driver would see me and stop. After 400m of superhuman running with lungs of fire and legs of lead, I managed to bang on the window just as he was pulling away at a second set of lights. And all before 9 a.m.

A very pleasant day was spent wandering round Wellington with one of the youngest members of Twisted.co.nz DJ Barnzy Boy [so wise for one so young]. You can easily ‘do’ Wellington on foot in a day. After grabbing a few hours sleep we headed back into town, and bumped into Helix, Chris Liberator, and Mr Oz on Courtney Place. The three of them decided to do a reverse bungy before we headed into Phoenix to catch up with LAB4.

It was like a gathering of the UK techno clans in there. I’ve not seen Chris Liberator in over 6 years, Adam and Lez definitely weren’t expecting to see Mr Oz in Wellington, and it was great to meet Adam’s lovely wife Kym after many emails. LAB4’s set went off [along with a nubile young lady’s top] and as always the Wellington crowd rocked.

Saturday was Chelfyn’s birthday so we went out to dinner with Chris, his lovely wife Carmel, and their 4 ½ month bump, before heading onto Studio Nine. I grabbed an interview with Chris before his set, and then Chelfyn followed finishing up the night with One Ring.

After about 20 goodbye hugs we said bye to Chris before heading back to Hamish and Pip’s balcony and watching the sun come up over the distant mountains. Wellington is an exceptionally beautiful place. We lay there all morning in the balmy sun doing looloons and listening to the sounds of the city waking up. After a big feed we watched Liquid Crystal Vision before heading to bed.

With an 8.35 Origon Pacific flight we were back in West Auckland by 10.00 am, with the warm cosy glow of a perfect weekend.