WOAH WOAH WOAH DAY 2

Goodmorning Queenstown!!  Well the morning started off fantastically.  We had a peaceful sleep in our big beds and the best thing we didn’t have far at all to get breakfast – just down the stairs.  We strolled into the dining room and enjoyed an omelette, poached eggs on toast, croissants, fruit and freshly brewed coffee whilst taking in the wonderful view of the mountains in the distance..Ahhhhh how relaxing…we wanted to sit here all day but alas Winterfestival was cranking away and we don’t want to miss a thing so we hit the town to find all the action.

The American Express street parade kicked off at 12 today and people lined the footpaths to catch a glimpse of all the colourful floats.  A lot of hard work went into the creation of such spectacular displays.  From live hair demonstrations, Ice Queens, body painted people, Captain Hook, Star Wars characters, singing tractors and a cow, a real one it was a jersey cow and it had a bell, a massive one and it was lead by a small young girl who had too give the cow a little push when it wouldn’t walk anymore.. anyway you name it, it was in the parade.  Taking home the main prize for the best float was the Bumble Bee float which had a swarm of young kiddies painted yellow and black with bumble bee wings – so cute!!  They took home a prize trophy of a hand-carved wooden head representing Maori warrior Matakauri from the local legend of Lake Wakatipu presented by Ngai Tahu Tourism Southern Regional Manager David Kennedy.

Next on the agenda was the Teddy Bears Picnic, an event for all the little tikes and their parents alike. It's an opportunity for some major bear bonding as everyone has their favorite teddy that they want to showcase the world. Jo and I arrived to a sea of children, all were clearly excited and clinging protectively to their teddy bears. We made our way through the hordes of little people to the stage kitted out in our AWESOME angry birds hats, a purely strategic decisions on our part, as we figured that if we somehow clad ourselves in bight soft toy fur we would seamless blend with the 'mini mes' who were amped to the max. Jo was MCing the event (an astute decision by Simon Green the Festival organizer, as I was quick to discover Jo is a well know 'child whisperer'....who knew!). Jo spoke these kids language, they wanted to talk bears and she was ready to listen! Suddenly a frenzy broke out and small children were surrounding Jo like she was some modern day Pied Piper....one by one, teddy's were eagerly thrusted into Jo hands so that she could hold each teddy high above her head and introduce the bears to the crowd, it was truly moving, just like the scene straight from the Lion King! Na Te Binya...Next it was onto some group dancing and Ringa Ringa Rosy was a firm favorite....the only problem was that the actions to this classic song had clearly had an upgrade since Jo and I were kids! If it ain't broke don't fix it I say...but now, gone is 'a tissue, a tissue, we all fall down' and replaced with some fan-dangle knee climbing ladder maneuver. Clearly we were out of touch and had to learn the new moves on the fly, Jo mastered it quickly and then taught the kids the notorious 'The Shuffle' in return. 

Personally my highlight would have to be Jo's attempt at making a balloon animal...full credit for stepping up to the plate with no prior warning, but I feel Jo may have lucked out when one little boy insisted she make an octopus...WOW...just go straight to the advance class there Jojo!! I really don't want to skew the crowd here with my thoughts on the final product (rubbish) *cough, and Jo is still insisting that it is an Octopus, but I feel it's best to let the photo of 'The Octopus' speak for itself...please keeping in mind an Octopus has EIGHTS legs....

Then it was back to our home away from home to indulge in freshly baked afghans and scones…I don’t think the owners are aware that we are planning to stay here forever, it is just the most amazing place to stay.

Next pit stop was the Speights Summit Ski and Board workshop where the boys from Quiksilver taught us how to tune, repair and maintain our gear like a pro.  We actually don’t own any gear of our own, nor are we anywhere close to being a pro on the mountain, but now we have the knowhow for when we do crack our boards (which is more than likely what will happen) we will know how to tune it up.  Good session and bullseye..a free Speights on arrival.

We then raced around grabbing a few final items for tonight’s extravaganza, Lisa managed to get her makeup done at Unichem and sample the new Elizabeth Arden electric purple eye shadow…Bright!! and aquire a mask suitable for a masquerade event…clearly the key feature you need.  Back to The Dairy to quickly throw on our flamboyant designer dresses from Mena Designs…check out the latest collections inspired by the extraordinary natural beauty of Polynesia here http://www.mena.co.nz/ and this is the best thing each of MENA's prints are exclusively designed so you won't see them anywhere else.

Ready to go, masks on, well mine is taking over my whole face which is pretty much a masks task, but it also is quite high so I take myself out along the way walking through doorways.  After hitting the red carpet at the American Express Ice Box which has now been transformed from a luxurious ice cave to an exquisite burlesque den we are welcomed to have a themed photo.  We grab the security guard and in the theme of Burlesque drape ourselves around him…well we try our best but clearly we are not very good at draping.  Lavish cocktail on entry and wohooo the traveling photo both is here so we don’t waste anytime getting on in to pull off our best poses…

We take our seats at table number 1 right up the front with the best view of the stage – the setting is perfect….just in time for the show to start.  My good friend Steve is the master of ceremonies tonight, he is fantastic especially when it comes to tantalizing the audience with his infectious and dramatic performance. Then WHOA!! Diamond Dance Entertainment http://www.diamonddance.co.nz/ light up the stage with a show stopping performance as they razzle dazzle us with their sexy, saucy Burlesque moves.  These girls really know how to put on a show with an array of flamboyant choreography.  Great work Emma.  Later they joined Pop Force (Sharon Emirali and Ellen Kuiper) to launch the premiere of New Zealand’s first live “Burlesque” show. It was such an alluring performance, all original songs, choreography and striking costumes from the movie. In three words it was sassy, sizzling, and sexy,…oh wait that’s four..These ladies brought the house down with their voices and that’s not all THEY CAN REALLY SHAKE IT…

Having spent the day working up the appetite of a prop forward, I was visibly stoked and excited when I saw the waitress cruising to our table with some plates of exciting goodies! YAY..the food was here! Now just quietly, I've been to a few of these events from time to time and I know that nailing a great food line up can set up an evening for success or failure, depending on how it's executed.  Luckily, for us The Deutz Burlesque Ball knocked one out of the park, keeping the party well fed with scrumptious cuisine and flowing Deutz bubbles. In true Burlesque style, we were teased of what to expect from the menu with a tantalizing entrée of Confit duck and pork terrine with petit salad and peach chutney, followed shortly by a mouth watering and perfectly cooked main of Beef fillet and potato gratin with braised red cabbage and a burgundy jus. Feeling very satisfied after I inhaled my dish like a cave women compared to Jo’s very lady light way, and sure I couldn't eat another mouthful, I was quickly persuaded to continue to indulge when a delicious selection of yummy petits fours turned up for dessert! Big ups to 'In 2 Food' for the amazing food for the evening! And 10 out of 10 for The Deutz Masquerade Burlesque Ball.

The Hitmen took the stage next and they had everyone up moving and grooving – we took to the floor and showed how awesome we are at dancing…Or not…...We were slicing, dicing, cutting and kung fu chopping…check out the footage to learn some new sweet moves..

The after party was held at Barmuda with People of Paris slamming on the decks…..We all rolled in from the Ball and dominated the dance floor… We planked in the entrance way, in the V.I.P area and along with Terry got our sweet shuffle on.  We also met Henry Van Asch Inventor alongside AJ Hackett in creating the bungee…He’s locked us in to do the Nevis this week…strewth my feet are numb thinking about it.  We couldn’t help ourselves Ferg Burger was calling so off we trotted to eat once again – pigs -  before hitting the sack……

Whoa whoa whoa what a day!!!  You seriously missed out so make sure you get your tickets early for this one next year because it is one event you should not miss!!!