This month I began preparing for my lecture tour across Australia and New Zealand:
| 03-05-10 | Flew out of DFW to LAX |
| 03-06-10 | in flight |
| 03-07-10 | Arrived in Brisbane, Australia. Stayed with cruise ship magician Scott Davies & his wonderful wife Toom. Had some great Thai food with them and stayed in their beautiful home on stilts on Tambourine Mountain. |
| 03-08-10 | Flew to Perth (lecture) Saw my first kangaroo up close and personal. |
| 03-09-10 | Flew to Adelaide (lecture) Performed in a bomb shelter. |
| 03-10-10 | Flew to Melbourne (lecture) |
| 03-11-10 | Flew to Sydney (lecture) Lectured to a packed house at Sean Taylor’s wonderful magic shop. |
| 03-12-10 | Toured the Taronga Zoo (where a baby elephant was born the day before), the aquarium, Sydney Opera House, and more with my new friend Luke Griffin. |
| 03-13-10 | Toured Sydney by car with my new friend Michael Stavrou in his cool Alfa-Romeo Spider convertible. Had a great dinner with my friend Sean Taylor and his fun-loving family. |
| 03-14-10 | Hung out with my new friend Sean Taylor before flying back to Brisbane to stay at the home of some retired married millionaires named Cyrus and Silloo. Their home was a palatial mansion! Silloo is a fascinating lady who luckily loves magic!! |
| 03-15-10 | (Lectured) in Brisbane to a full house and then back home to the mansion! My new pal Dave Lord showed me around this beautiful city. |
| 03-16-10 | Flew to Auckland (lecture). Met the infamous Alan Watson and partook of he and his wife’s wonderful hospitality. |
| 03-17-10 | Flew to Palmerston North (lecture) |
| 03-18-10 | Flew to Christchurch (lecture). Met the super-cool Britt family. |
| 03-19-10 | Went site seeing in Christchurch with my new pal Greg Britt (the busiest magician in New Zealand). Went to the top of Christchurch and visited a wildlife park where I saw many amazing animals up close and fed a giraffe by hand! A few days before our visit to the park the cheetahs got loose and mingled through the crowd! |
| 03-20-10 | Got up in Christchurch at 3:30am to be at airport at 4:30am, flew out at 6:30am, and made 2.5 hour flight to Brisbane, but because of the time difference arrived at 7am. Flew out again at 11am and made 12 hour flight back, but went through a time warp and arrived in LA at 7am the same day! Hung out with my friend Brian Gillis and Sisuepahn at their mini castle in Redondo Beach. Went to see the amazing Andy Hill and Renee Safier play that night at a nice steak house. |
| 03-21-10 | Hung out in Redondo Beach and worked the Comedy & Magic Club in Hermosa Beach that night. Went backstage and hung out with Jay Leno. |
| 03-22-10 | Returned home late and was greeted by my wonderful wife Kathy, our pet iguana and my comfy bed. |
What an adventure! Over 18 days I made 11 flights. I lectured in 8 cities, 5 in Australia and 3 in New Zealand. All in all I traveled over 25,000 miles on this trip. Imagine making a complete journey around the Earth!! Click here to see an interactive Google Map that shows you the actual path I traveled.
Some of the highlights were seeing the beautiful scenery and birds. They have millions of parrots flying around there like we have blackbirds. The wildlife parks I visited were my favorite part.
Being so close to the animals and interacting with them makes you feel closer to God. The people were amazing. They were all super friendly and took great care of me.
I was surprised that people there don’t all talk like the late Steve Irwin or Crocodile Dundee. They are all very English, having tea (instead of dinner) and drive on the opposite side of the road. Most of Australia felt like a blend between California and England. Australia is as vast as the US but only has a population of 21.3 million people.
Most people live along the coast and the center of the Oz is simply desolate (the outback).
I hope to return one day and take in more of this beautiful country. I regret not seeing Ayer’s Rock, Darwin, and the scenery along the Great Barrier Reef. The tour was very profitable and I know I’ll return with another lecture in the future. The amazing Sean Taylor who organized the tour gave my lecture a great review that can be found on this page. For another favorable review by the great Paul Romhany click here.
Once back home I began catching up on work here and returned to performat Jackson’s Pottery (one of my favorite clients) for their big super sale. April is looking good and I have many more projects and tours in the works.