MONDAY – August 17 2009
Monday morning the crew of thirteen arrived at Carclew bright and early to load up two cars and one truck, and hit the road, destination: Kangaroo Island.
We all survived the short Ferry trip, although some were almost tipped overboard while stumbling along the deck in a style somewhat akin to a drunkard.
Once we were on dry land again we got back in cars for the scenic drive from Penneshaw down to Kingscote, which would be our home for the next several days.
In the afternoon the group got acquainted with the local main streets, particularly the bakery, where we were welcomed by a flock of seagulls. Of course we checked out the local pub where we were to be playing, The Queenscliffe Hotel - or “The Queenie” to locals and regulars (which we were soon to become).
The latest in professional development team building exercises? The shop run. After grabbing dinner supplies we headed back to the apartments and cooked up a BBQ and got to know each other.

TUESDAY – August 18 2009
“That’ll be $3.10 for the ice-coffee and an autograph please”. Second day on the island and the bands were already being recognised!
First gig! Parndana town hall was the venue. The once beautifully glossy floorboards that we had seen on arrival were turned into one big dusty dance floor.
Conga lines would appear to be the official dance of K.I. But the kids (and teachers!) were quick to pick up the “Skank” to dance to Son of Dad’s ska tunes, a style they had not yet experienced.
It was apparent that a new method of giveaways distribution was required after the crew received an absolute mobbing for the free stickers. Black Knight stickers over the eyes like Ninja Turtles were popular.

WEDNESDAY – August 19 2009
Today was a bit crazy down at the Kingscote school. The biggest campus on the Island, about 300, kids packed into the large rec centre.
After going nuts during the bands, sitting the audience back down for a Q & A session was definitely not going to happen. Instead the bands (and even crew!) were bombarded with kids wanting signatures. Favourites being signings on faces, socks, shoes…!
For lunch we all had lunch orders!! A bit of time was spent reminiscing over the school lunch menu, whilst lessons continued for the students outside of the classroom with an introduction to the fine art of cable rolling.
After loading the truck in light rain and several high fives, we headed off with kids running after the cars.

THURSDAY – August 20 2009
The day started for Room 9 with Matt whistling Oye (made famous by the Kangaroo Island Community Education (KICE) Senior Ensemble) in the shower. Every member of the group at some point in the day had it stuck in their head.  There is talk of the bands covering it at Saturday night’s gig...
Today’s school gig was the smallest of the tour, as the Penneshaw Campus has only 100 students. However the whole hall was filled with dancing bodies. The dancing started earlier at this show to the tunes of KICE band which today grew with the Penneshaw Campus students joining in the fun. Jenn gave the students from the KICE and Penneshaw band a short lesson in how the signal flows from the stage to the speakers.
Mr Young officially joined Son of Dad on trombone for a song. Maybe he can come back for the whole set on Saturday! The band also played a tune from another local Adelaide band – When The Full Moon Shines by The Hoodoo Voodoo Dolls.

A young kid gave Brad from Black Knight a run for his money with his dancing skills, specialising in very entertaining break dancing, whilst another student literally danced his pants off – what a shocked expression on his face when he looked down and discovered it!
The idea of a peaceful lunch at the Penneshaw Hotel was somewhat destroyed by the hammer drill coming from the adjacent room (renovations, typical).
As happens when lots of driving is happening, car games evolved. On the island it seems etiquette to raise your fingers from the wheel as you drive past someone going in the opposite direction. Therefore the game of the day quickly became guessing how many finger salutes in a row we could get. Six was the winner.
For some afternoon entertainment the boys from both Son of Dad and Black Night took off to the town centre with their acoustic guitars to busk, having a blast singing down the main street of Kingscote.
To wrap up Thursday on K.I. we headed down to Tim Frears block on the coast for a campfire sing along – until the rain set in and forced an early retreat back to the apartments.

FRIDAY – August 21 2009
On Friday morning a couple of the boys from each band headed into KICE Kingscote Campus to play a few songs with the music kids there and have a bit of informal question and answer type session.
After that it was time for some sightseeing! We headed west towards Vivonne Bay, looking to try some sand surfing. Unfortunately everywhere was unmanned, being the off season, so we continued along towards Remarkable Rocks and Admiral’s Arch. We stopped at the Flinders Chase National Park centre for some lunch before heading into the parklands. Everyone had a great time looking around the Remarkable Rocks! After that we saw (and smelt – ew!) seals at Admiral’s Arch. Here the sea was pounding the coastline, and as we twisted our way down it was beautifully framed by the natural land arch.
That evening it was back to the Queenscliffe Hotel, but this time not just for dinner! The boys were playing an acoustic set. Tricia and her son Finn joined us for a good feed and some good music for the evening, and that they got! The locals got into it too, despite being told that it was too quiet for their liking.

SATURDAY – August 22 2009
Trent, Matt, Adam and Drew started the day off with an early morning interview for KIX FM.
The whole team packed up shop and headed west for our last gig of the tour. After driving 10 minutes down a slippery dirt track we started to wonder again how much we could trust Google Maps….but as we finally arrived we figured that it was working on ‘island time’. We took in the breathtaking views, rolling hills, the sea and obvious black stains from the bush fires that must have swept through here last year.
After everyone had had a little time out, we decided to go for a short drive to find some lunch, heading towards Stokes Bay to see some of the northern coastline.  It was a beautiful drive, filled with beautiful green valleys, stunning lookouts and gorgeous little coves. However, the café or deli we were seeking remained elusive…for two hours! On the upside, everyone got really excited about seeing kangaroos for the first time on tour, especially Dan. Eventually we headed back inland towards Parndana, so the boys could nurse their stomachs! Luckily we didn’t end up in Kinsgcote as, according to James, if you follow the coast long enough, that’s where you’ll find yourself!
This left us with little time to get ready for the gig at the Western Districts Football Club, so James headed off straight away and we followed him shortly.
Set up was a little slow, and there were a few issues that took a while to figure out, but eventually we were set to go. We joined the locals for the amazing dinner provided by the club before buckling back down to work.

Tim Frears opened the show doing a solo set and was joined by a local on stage to accompany him for one song. Then another couple of locals played a few rock covers before Son of Dad took the stage and got the people dancing! Black Knight pleased the crowd with their rock and roll antics, blowing everyone away with amazing drum and guitar solos and even a harmonica solo too!
Pack up was the quickest, slickest yet!  As apparently is the norm, it began to rain again and we all carefully inched back to the hilltop apartments with fogged up windows along sludgy roads.
Before bed we all toasted to Trent’s birthday - a good end to a good day.

Sunday – August 23 2009
A slow sleepy morning as we packed up to head home, reminiscing about all the good times we had over the last week and how fast it had all gone!
We decided to follow the back roads for our last bit of Island driving and, as James says, the back roads all lead to Parndana.
Couldn’t find an open café when we got to Penneshaw and had some time to kill before the ferry left for the mainland. But maybe that was a good thing, as when we got to the ferry dock the rough seas were spraying everyone with salt water – we weren’t nervous at all!
After some good advice we discovered the ‘secret’ deck on the ferry…which didn’t help matters much.  Apparently even the hardest of stomaches on land can take a beating on the rough seas. Evidently people were ‘ferry’ sick!
Arrived safe and sound in Adelaide. Goodbyes were exchanged and numbers swapped before heading off to our own homes to rest our weary touring bones.