- Edition 1 -
Well, now it's up to me to keep up the entertaining standard that was set with Anthony's Tour Diary.
I hope I can do it justice!!
I'm not sure where Anthony left off, so I guess I'll start from the beginning of the New Year.

New Year's Day - Federation Day in Australia - we were asked to be in a parade to mark the Centenary of Federation in Australia. This was when our very first Prime Minister was appointed, and all the states were formed. It was a great day. With many thousands of people lining the streets of Sydney. We drove along in the Big Red Car and waved to many, many friends.

We then started recording a new album to be released in Australia in April. This was good fun - always lots of fun writing new songs.

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We also shot a video of some of the songs from our last Christmas Album
- Yule Be Wiggling. This will be released this coming Christmas in Australia.

Then, it was onto the plane to go to Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Well, we didn't quite know what to expect, but now that we have been here for nearly two weeks, it's going to be hard moving on. We've found the people to be wonderful. The mall shows have been so much fun, meeting people who have travelled many hours.

Today, we met Emerson and her family. Emerson and her Mum travelled 4 and a half hours to see us, and her grandma gravelled 9 hours!! Wow!!! We love meeting people wherever we go, no matter how far they have travelled. I guess it is one thing that really amazes us over here though - that so many people will travel amazing distances to come to our shows. Thankyou everyone.

I think the most amazing thing about our stay here in Atlanta has been the fact that Jeff has been able to indulge his love of Krispy Kreme Donuts. Jeff is the kind of person who does not really like a lot of junk food, so imagine our surprise when he developed a taste for the wonderful Krispy Kremes!! He was in heaven. He walked from our hotel, down to the Krispy Kreme factory on Ponce de Leon (about 16 blocks), and bought a 3 dozen of their glazed donuts. He did share some with us - but he was a man on a mission. Once he heard that the Krispy Kreme Factory was there, he was not going to leave town without visiting.

Anthony, or Sumo as we call him (it's a long story and I'll explain in another update), has been very busy at the gym working off the after effects of helping Jeff devour the Krispy Kremes, and me, well, I just don't worry about it!! No, not true, I've been down the gym a couple of times trying to maintain the size 36 stomach - no more donuts please Jeff!!!

We had some things to finish off for the album that we didn't get done back home, so we went to APC Studios, here in Atlanta. It was great fun. We did a version of a Mexican song, La Cucuracha with Fernando Snr and Fernando Jnr. Little Fernando, as we like to call him, is one of the children in the Barney stage show. He is fantastic. We did a version of the two Fernandos singing the song in Spanish. You should have heard me trying to sing in Spanish!!

I think Al Pal took a little bit of time getting over the jet lag. The sound on stage for the first few shows was a little bit strange - we won't hold that against him though - things are okay now, so I guess his body clock must be set!

Overall, we've had a great time in Atlanta, and can't wait to tackle the next leg of our US tour - Tampa, Florida and then New York, New York, here we come!

Greg Wiggle

- Edition 2 -
Well, a great week everybody. We arrived in Tampa, Florida at 3am Monday morning on our wonderful tour coach, driven by our good friend and bus driver,
Joe C Bush. I guess it was no surprise that no-one really stirred before 10 am after arriving so late
into the hotel.



First thing Monday morning, Jeff and I made sure that we had our laundry done for the week. We met the rest of the gang at 12.30 for a walk around St Petersburg Beach. After walking about 100 metres, we recalled seeing an Avis rent a car place next door to the hotel, so we about-faced and put aside previous bad experiences, and rented a six seater min-van for two days.

The first thing we did was to get in the van and go to a mall. Seems like mall hopping is one of our favourite past times over here. I mean, we've seen a lot of them when we play at them, but even on our days off, we are mystically drawn to the meccas of shopping.

Of course, as it was lunch time, we visited the food court and had to stop at the Japanese Teriyaki shop. There is one thing you can always count on at these food courts - there will always be a Japanese restaurant, a Cajun, and an Italian. At least you know what you're going to get!!!

We then stopped at Best Buy on the way back to the hotel. We had seen these "walkie talkie" radios for sale, and thought that it might be a good idea to have some in case any of us get lost in a mall at some stage - well actually, we just thought they'd be fun to play with. So, of course for the first day that we had them, we were walking around like a SWAT team talking to each other at distances of 3 feet, annoying people around us with "Breaker Breaker", and "10:4 Big Buddy".



That night we had a great Italian meal, followed by a very competitive game of mini-golf. The game was played hard, and fair (by most of us). Paddy was the official scorer, so there is some doubt about his score at the end of the day, because we all thought that Ashes, (or Carie Webb as we called here that night) may have just had the edge on Paddy. The end result though according to Paddy's official score sheet had myself, Al Pal and Jeff all on a three way tie, followed by Sumo, Paddy and then Ash. As I previously said though, the Putt-Putt Mini-Golf Ethics Board are still conducting an investigation on Paddy's score card, and final places will be announced shortly.



Tuesday, and another day off. Well, we were close enough to Orlando to think of going to over there for something to do. I mean, we had the car, we had Jeff driving with no accidents yet, so what did we do - go to Disney World!!! Al Pal, Ash, Jeffrey, Sumo, and I, all went off to the Magic Kingdom for the day. Orlando is only an hour or so from Tampa, so we didn't get there until just after midday. Oh yeah, forgot to mention that on our day off we had a TV appearance to do for Good Day Tampa Bay (pronounced "G'day Tampa Bay" in Australian!!).



While we were waiting for the camera crew to turn up at the mall, we went to the Waffle House - our first time in a Waffle House in the US!! What an eye-opener. Did you know they have about 20 songs about the Waffle House on their Jukeboxes?? One in particular took our fancy - it was called "844,739 Ways to Eat a Hamburger At the Waffle House". Wow - what a mouthful!! (And I'm not just talking about the hamburgers!!).



Once we got to the Magic Kingdom car park (pronounced "parking lot" in American), Sumo got out of the car with a backpack. We asked him what he had in his backpack that he was taking in to Disney World. He coolly and casually replied "My CD player, in case I get bored." Of course - what else!

We had a great day at the Magic Kingdom, and actually had found a way to use our walkie talkies. They came in very handy for finding each other when we would split up to go on rides.

I think the person who enjoyed Disney World most was probably Al Pal. Back home in Australia, Al is considered one of the country's finest sound engineers, and that is why we were surprised at the sound on stage when Al was adjusting his body clock for the first few days. The sound wasn't bad, just not what we had come to expect from the "Man of Mixing". Anyway, as you could expect for someone so talented, he can rarely go anyway in public without needing a security team around him. However, over here in the US, he can enjoy a relatively anonymous existence without fans and paparazzi constantly around him. He had a great day at the Magic Kingdom with only one Disney worker approaching him asking for advice on how to correct the phasing problem in the Alien Encounter Ride.

If there is one thing that can be predicted about me going to a theme park, it is the fact that I will buy a Churro. So, of course, I couldn't disappoint the others, I was forced to buy a Churro. I took one bite, and walked no more than 10 paces from the Churro stand, when a big Seagull swooped down, hit me on the head with it's wing, took a bit of my Churro and then flew off.

Ashes was the only one who saw it, but when we stopped laughing and told the others what happened, we decided to get Ranger Jeff (or the Seagull Man) to give a piece to camera about the ferocious Seagulls at Disney World.

Great news everybody - unlike Greensboro, North Carolina, we managed to get the car back to Avis "ding-free". Well driven Jeff!! Wednesday morning we were at the Ice Palace to do another spot on G'day Tampa Bay. Russell Rhodes and Jason the camera man were there again.



The next day saw us at West Shore Mall, in Tampa. We did a show there, with about 350 of our friends turning up to see us. What a thrill it was to have so many great people there to say hello -thankyou to all our friends who drove distances to see us, and many thanks to those locals who made the effort to come down to the mall and see us. After that, it was off to the Barney show at the Ice Palace. While waiting for the show to start, we were lucky enough to see the space shuttle launch from 150 miles away - about 225 kilometres. Wowee!! What a sight! We'd never seen one take off before, and to be able to see it from that distance made us realize the might of the US Space Program!

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Thursday, we travelled to New York City. We love NY!! What a great place - don't know if I could live there, but sure is a lot of fun.

Friday morning we did the Today show on NBC with Matt and Katie. This time, no song -much to the disappointment of many of our friends, (and families who stayed up late to see us back home). However, we did meet the Harlem Globetrotters, who we seem to bump into many times all over the world. We first met them back home on a publicity run in Melbourne. I think we saw them three times in one day that time. Then we saw them again in Detroit for the Thanksgiving Day Parade last year.

We were lucky enough to get some complimentary tickets to the Globetrotters game at Madison Square Garden that night. So, off we went, walking down 7th Avenue to the "Garden". We had never been there before, so we were quite excited to go to this venue that we had seen in many movies. I was amazed that the place was looking so good after being blown up in "Godzilla" the movie!!

Saturday started off with an early morning appearance on the CBS Early Morning Show. I think that they should change the name of this show to the Very Early Morning Show if you are a guest on the program. We left the hotel at 5.15 am!! A little bit too early for the liking of some of our group!!

However, the show went well, and then it was off to FAO Schwarz for a great show with our good friend Barney. We were blown off stage - literally! A very cold and windy day had us thinking about perhaps the introduction of Wiggles Wind Cheaters for events like this. Boy was it cold!

Anyway, after our performances, it was into the store to sign videos and have photos taken with our friends. There sure were a lot of people there!! Sorry to all those people that may have missed out on seeing us, and sorry that there was not much time for those people that we did meet - we were taken by surprise by the number of people who knew who we were. Thankyou to everyone though, for turning up to the show - we hope you all had a great time.

That's it for now. Tomorrow, we're off to Macon, Georgia, so, hopefully we'll have lots more to report next week. In the meantime, keep wiggling.

Greg Wiggle

- Edition 3 -

Well, a quiet week in comparison to last week.
Not many "extra curricula" activities
going on in Macon or Jacksonville.

We were without Anthony for most of the week due to dental emergencies he experienced whilst in New York, so apologies to those people that missed seeing him in Macon. He is back with us now, joining us in Jacksonville for our shows there.

Macon was quite a small town I guess, by what we would think of as American standards. The downtown area had only three high rise buildings (skyscrapers). Leeane and I got our laundry done on Monday, taking a cab to the Laundromat, about two kilometres from the Hotel. When we arrived there, the cab driver gave us a card so we could call for a cab when were done. We called at 1.30, and finally at 2.30pm the same woman came back to pick us up - so I guess that high rise is not the only thing that Macon is light on!!!

Again, Jeff conquered the Krispy Kreme monster, finding one, only about a quarter of a kilometre from the Hotel. When he saw it as we drove by, he sat up in his seat, and you could sense his eyes lighting up in wonderment, like he was ten years old again. He was peering in to see if he could see the machinery that made the donuts - he loves his glazed donuts fresh off the conveyor belt!!

Thankyou also to those people who brought Jeff some donuts, particularly Rande in Jacksonville. You know, Jeff really appreciates it, but he can't eat them all himself, so don't be surprised if you see a much larger than usual bunch at Wiggles at the next show!!

At Jacksonville, we did manage to have a little bit of recreational time, with Jeff, Al Pal, Leeanne and myself, all having a game of tennis. We only had two racquets, so it was Jeff against me, and Ashes against Al Pal. Jeff and I played twelve games, with a draw being declared due to lack of energy to play any more games.

I guess that there probably are a few people out there who are wondering about Anthony's nickname, "Sumo", or "Zumo" as it has now become.

It originated about 7 years ago, on tour. Anthony would eat a lot of food at meals, and each morning he would come to the shows, and in the dressing room he would look at his stomach each morning and say "You know, I think I'm putting on some weight.". After a few weeks of this, there was a special on tv one night that some of us watched on the Japanese Sumo wrestlers. One of the things they spoke about was how much food Sumo wrestlers consume to keep their weight up.

This, combined with Anthony's constant questioning about his weight, prompted us to start calling him "Sumo", with a touch of sarcasm. It has stuck ever since!

Monday morning, 19th February, and we wake up in beautiful Miami Beach. This is certainly a change from the weather we had in NY!!!

The beach here is right at the back of the Hotel, so some of the guys went down the beach this afternoon for a walk. Apart from that, not much else happening except for some inspection of the shops around Miami.

Keep you updated in the next week or so - keep wiggling.

Greg Wiggle

- Edition 4-

Lovely in Miami!!
What a great place to finish off a tour.


We were lucky enough to have a hotel that fronted the beach. Not that it was one of the best hotels we have ever stayed in, but as they say - location, location, location!!

The hotel was just blocks away from everything that we needed - grocery stores, restaurants, Laundromat, cafes, and shopping. Everything that a touring bunch of Wiggles needs.

Well, being our last week on tour in the US meant that it was the last week of getting up early for morning television programs. This week, it was only Wednesday that we had to get up early. A four thirty start never hurt anyone!! But I sure won't miss these early starts back home. Oh, I hope we don't have any of these on our English tour!!

Wednesday morning saw us on the Daybreak program from 5.30 to 7 am. Then it was taping two programs for later that night. One of which was a segment to be aired in the news hour at 5pm. It was a segment with a guy called Todd Tongen who has this 1967 Chevy Cab and he drives you around in it while he interviews you. Cool idea, and fun guy!!

Our first mall show in Miami was quite over the top - there were a lot of people there in quite a small space, so it was very daunting. It was great to see so many people come to see us, but sometimes, I guess I might be a little claustrophobic!!

The arena shows with Barney went well too, and it was to be our last week of shows with the Purple Guy - maybe forever!

The great thing about Miami beach was that there was always something to look at. Things were always happening everywhere you went. Buskers, rollerbladers, shoppers and more. Kind of like a tropical New York City in some ways. Needless to say, we are hoping to return there on our tour in October and November.

This week, we shot a video for "La Cucaracha" with Fernando Snr and Fernando Jnr. We hired a recording studio about 3 blocks from the hotel, and shot the video there. And thanks to Fernando Snr, Al Pal has a new nickname - Alex Compadre. So now, Al Pal is known by two names, depending on which part of the world we are in.

As I write this, I am in the plane on the way home to Australia. It is now 11.30 in the morning, Tuesday, in Miami, and we have been travelling for 18 hours. The good news is, there is only about 5 more hours to go. I hope this diary makes sense, it is hard to put your thoughts together properly when you are halfway between two time zones. I have put my watch onto Sydney time so that I can try and adjust my sleeping so that I can wake up at a reasonable hour in Sydney time. It is now 3.30 in the morning there, Wednesday morning. I've had about 5 hours sleep, and thought I'd better write some thoughts down about wonderful Miami!!

Well, all up, we had a fantastic trip around the east coast of the US, and we want to thank everyone for coming to see us at our mall shows and at the Arena shows with Barney. We had a truly wonderful time, and everyone was so appreciative of what we are doing which makes being away from home for weeks on end so much easier. Thankyou for your kind words, and your welcoming hospitality, we look forward to coming back in October with our own show.

Right now, I'm going to settle back in my seat and listen to some music and try and get some more sleep in.

Greg Wiggle

- Edition 5 -

Well, what a difference this tour makes!! Unlike the US where we had a lot of time on our hands, doing day time shows and then driving between 2 and 4 hours a night, getting in to the hotel, having dinner and then going to bed leaves little time for other things.


I think that this is even harder than touring in Australia in some ways - I guess it is mainly the late start which means that we end later, however, it also means that we can sleep in an extra half hour (which is never unappreciated!!).

Even though it is only two shows a day over here, they are a little longer, but also, six days a week, with only one day to rest the voice and the legs makes it a little tougher too. Oh well, enough whining!

One thing I can tell you we have learnt, is to steer clear of the M25 on a Friday afternoon between 3 and 7pm. We were heading from Leicester down to Basingstoke last week when we had our first encounter with London's "Orbital Carpark". The M25 is a huge motorway I'm sure was designed with the good intention of freeing up other roads of traffic, and attempting to make the run quicker along the new 6 lane motorway. So what went wrong?? We don't know, but we do know not to go anywhere near it on a Friday afternoon if it can be avoided!!

The shows over here have been going very well so far, with some smaller crowds at some venues, and some larger crowds at other venues. For instance, at Croydon last week, we played to over 2500 people in the day, whereas at Nottingham, we played to just over 500!!

Nonetheless, we always do our best to give a good show - even though I believe there was one unhappy customer at Nottingham - not sure what some of their criticism was all about though! Rest assured, we were doing our best!!

Today I met up with my Aunty Marion who lives not far from Bournemouth in the South of England. She met me for lunch, and took me to the Vistarama in Bournemouth, which is a big hot air balloon attached to a cable. It rises up into the air about 500 feet, stops for about 12 minutes to let you look at the view, and then comes back down, pulled in by the cable.

Upon approaching the Vistarama, I convinced myself that, as boring as a flight in a balloon attached to a cable might seem, it would be fun to go up and have a look around. I mean, I had been on some fantastic rides at theme parks in the States, and it wouldn't hurt me to accompany my Aunt on this ride, she wanted to show me the area where she lived, and this would be a good way to do it.

So, we got into the "basket" and just before we lifted off, the operator said to make sure that we hang on. "Hang on??", I said, and jokingly took a tight grip on the rail. The first 100 feet seemed to go very slowly, looking out over the coast, and spotting the venue where we played today. My Aunty started showing me different parts of the Bournemouth area, and pointed out where she lives at Christchurch, about 6 miles away.

I soon sensed myself gripping the rail tighter, and tighter, and tighter. I thought to myself, "this is silly, I've been on rollercoasters, and all sorts of other rides that throw you around, and never felt scared", but sure enough, as we approached the top of the climb, my knuckles were turning white. The basket was getting blown around by the wind, and I began to think "What if the cable breaks, and the balloon gets taken away by the wind?? How will they land this thing?? Will we just keep going up and up and up into space??"

Well, the wind got stronger. The basket swayed even more. Aunty Marion was merrily looking around pointing out several things to look at, and then she let go of the rail and started walking around without hanging on. I thought to myself, "Are you mad??? Please hang onto the rail, don't leave me here holding on looking like the coward I am!".

The other people on the ride thought it was funny. I had a different perspective on it though! Actually, it was funny. What made it even funnier was the fact that the operator had to cut the ride short to let me down. So I must apologise to the 4 other people who missed the remaining two minutes of their ride - sorry!

Back on the ground again, my knuckles turned back to their normal colour again, and I was very relieved to go and sit down and have a sandwich.

Anthony left us today to go and have his teeth fixed. Off to New York for another round of Dentistry Delight!! In the meantime, he will be replaced by Morgan Crowley, who sang a song on our latest Christmas album - a sort of temporary Blue Wiggle!

At Crawley, yesterday, we were very surprised to receive a box of Krispy Kreme Donuts. Little Emmy from Nashville, Tennesee came all the way with her Mum and Dad to say hello to us in England, and deliver a very precious (and much appreciated) cargo for Jeff! The fact that Emmy's mum is a flight attendant with Delta Air kind of made the trip a little easier to organize!!

Well, that's it for now from me, so until next time, keep wiggling,

Greg Wiggle

Thanks Pasqua, I have recieved permission to post this blog as it is not for any commercial use.

From: "Pasqua at The Wiggles"
To: "'C W'"
Subject: RE: Greg's Archive Tour Diaries
Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2007 09:35:35 +1100

Hi Carolina,

This is fine as long as its not for commercial use.

Wiggly WoofWoof!
Pasqua in Cyberspace
C y b e r p u p
The Wiggles Pty Ltd
webenq@thewiggles.com.au