Well, here I am, sitting in a motel room in Havelock North taking a bit of a break, we've had a great past few days so I thought I'd share some of the highlights with y'all...

More FM Winery Tour - Day 5. Sacred Hill, Rifleman's Vineyard (Napier)

We started the day with a lunch at the Cellar Door at Sacred Hill. Two lucky young ladies had the pleasure of attending lunch with Opshop - courtesy of a competition run by New Idea Magazine.

The band arrived at the restaurant just before the ladies, and were greeted by Tony Bish - the wine maker for Sacred Hill.

Sarah and Susan (the prize winners) made their grand entrance, and after a quick hello, we all sat down to an amazing lunch, that was complimented by some outstanding wines - my favourite was the Sacred Hill Deerstalker's Syrah.... Delish!

Not too long after being plied with some great food, wine, and company, we had to headed off to sound check - the humidity was crazy!

6pm rolled around and it was show time for Opshop.

We jumped around and had some fun with the audience - who, despite some annoying drizzle, jumped around and had a few laughs with us too.

After our set we got to hang around and catch Anika Moa, and Dave Dobbyn's sets - AWESOME!!!

It was the first time Sacred Hill had participated in the More FM Winery Tour - I'm sure it won't be the last!

Many thanks to Tony Bish, and the rest of the team at Sacred Hill for the hospitality, and laughs - good times!

More FM Winery Tour - Day 6. Transit Day

We had the day off to travel from Napier to Havelock North.

We weren't too sure how we were going to manage the arduous pilgrimage.

It was a daunting task, but with sheer grit and determination we made the epic 21.5km trip in about 25 minutes...SWEET!

More FM Winery Tour - Day 7. Black Barn Vineyards, Havelock North

Another hot and humid day for Havelock North... Mmm... Sticky!

We arrived at the venue for sound check - what a great place!

Black Barn Vineyards have carved a small amphitheatre out of the side of a hill for shows etc - it's great.

We finished our sound check and made our way (by golf cart) up to our green room.

Now, Opshop has recently finished a pub tour of New Zealand, and to be honest, some of the green rooms we had on that tour were pretty rough - not so with Black Barn Vineyards.

The green room that was shared by us, Anika, Dave & co. was a house near the top of the hill that over looks the venue, with wide sweeping views of Hawkes Bay - Stunning!

Oh... Did I mention the heated swimming pool?

Needless to say, the pool was utilised by all and sundry - especially with the humidity of the day.

Showtime... Opshop hit the stage running, and we, once gain had a blast belting out some tunes.

Even a few showers couldn't keep the locals from kicking their shoes off and getting their groove on in the mud... Nice work Havelock North!

After the show, a few of us decided it would be best to cool off in the afore mentioned pool - good times!

I'm pretty sure I saw Matt Treacy from Opshop jump into the pool in his undies.

When do undies become togs?... undies, undies, undies...Togs... togs... Hmm?

More FM Winery Tour - Day 8. Black Barn Vineyards, Havelock North

We, once again had the pleasure of Havelock North's company at Black Barn Vineyard.

This time around, the weather wasn't quite as good as the previous night... It drizzled - hard!

But we knuckled down and put on an Opshop show - with a twist.

We played through our set, and had a great time doing so to a sold out venue.

When it came to us playing the last song of our set, "One Day", we had a small surprise.

Earlier, a young fella had contacted us and asked if we could do something for he and his partner.

"One Day" was their favourite song, and he wanted to dedicate it to her for Valentines Day.

We agreed and he got up on stage just before we played it to dedicate it to her... then he dropped down on bended knee and asked her to marry him.

She excitedly accepted his proposal amidst a cheering crowd, and then punched him in the shoulder for embarrassing her.

We played the song, and ended our set on an amazing note.

Thanks so much Havelock North for having the traveling side show that is the More FM Winery Tour come visit.

Oh... and thanks to the lovely lady who let me drive her 1976 Corvette Stingray - NICE!!

Stay tuned...

Clint

Opshop

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