Bound for the Bay Of Plenty my intentions are good, 4 nights of refreshing good times and solid sleep sessions. Then it’s back in time for the 2pm ferry to Waiheke on Saturday. You see my Big Day Out was bigger than most.

The week began normally enough with The SkyCity Supercar launch. NZ’s latest A1GP car was choreographly unveiled by 4 stunning pit gals, amidst techno lights and hundreds of ooos and arrhs.

The BDO build up began directly after with The Prodigy team turning up at The Pony Club. An untrained eye wouldn’t have given a second glance, but a nudge from a trained lady friend put me in the know. Time ticked, corks popped and a couple of the girls were duely invited to escort them home.

The following day was a stinker. I did my chores in the morning, then did my most important errand for the day and picked up Pee Wee Ferris from the airport. I met him at a wedding 2 years ago in Sydney, he seemed cool, we stayed in contact and now he was in my town to rock the BDO party. We went on a tiki tour ending pool side at The Backyard Bar for a homemade steak’n'cheese pie, garden salad and Mojito. I jumped in the pool, my adductor magnus (that I’d injured on Boxing Day) flared up. I doggy paddled to the edge and sought assistance in the form of Jaeger, it helped.

I’d been informed by Oscar (the NZ Breakers power forward) that a win was guaranteed, and liking to support winners we moved up the line a few blocks to see The Breakers do just that, trounce the Townsville Crocodiles. The caven was crammed with fans of all ages and abilities, including half the NZ Warriors rugby league team.

My highlight was the power being cut after the 3rd quarter. The last section of play was controlled manually, 80’s style, and in half light. Elated we continued the tour and the drivee became the driver, for consumption reasons. Pee Wee didn’t seem phased by the added duty, and we bar hopped the CBD before roosting at Cassette #9.

The Prodigy boys were at it again, as were The Artic Monkeys (fresh from a sell-out show at The Powerstation). Girls swooned, with varying levels of success, I smiled in observation, mild jealously welled. I leapt over the back of my booth and attempted my signature ‘Raindrop’ dance winner (misjudging the 1.5m drop) that normally impresses the dresses. Unfortunately, I didn’t even make it over the backrest, my shins hit the edge and I hurtled forward toward the dancefloor, torso leading the way. The firm grasp by a kind sober gent prevented hospitalisation. I hobbled for the rest of the night, with tail between legs.

Rising from a foreign bed, sleep deprived I clicked that it was the Big Day. I found a half full beverage from a few hours earlier, it did the trick, sorted me out and let the games begin. Amassing 10 BDO buddies we lapped up the sun, memorised the performance timetable and watched Alex trying to inject a bottle of Feijoa vodka into a watermelon. We Googled the technique and found out that a week was require for the operation, so the valiant attempt was shelved.

Thankfully Pee Wee was available to drive once again. Even more thankfully, his passes enabled us to drive to the back door of The Boiler Room. Instantly, looking around it was a ‘who’s who’ fest, but I wanted to get out amongst the chaos.

I’m not sure I entered all the zones throughout the day, there was so much going on behind the scenes, the AAA pass was brilliant, an eye opener as to what it takes to be a rockstar. When chatting to the Elemeno P boys it was discovered that the promoters had missed an ‘E’ from their title on the cabin door. I ran about trying to find a marker to rectify it, found my way into Neil Young’s dressing room and to my glee, he had one. I felt like a hero when I returned and put right the injustice. That reminds me, I still have Neil’s pen.

Pee Wee played while The Prodigy set up. His 45 minute pumping electro set broke all hell loose, the thousands in the tent blew their lids. Prodigy finished them off good and proper.

There were many after party options, but not wanting to taint the glorious day in any way, we bylined it for Nina’s takeaways on Ponsonby Rd, then home to bed and a good book

The following day began not dissimilar to the last. Great weather, a hangover, bruise inspections, supergluing crockery to the ceiling and flicking through my camera to piece it all together.

The arrival on Miss Ashcroft sparked a fairly good Saturday build up into a sensational one. Absolutely chomping at the bit we wove our way to Heron Park, for George FM’s beach park party. The perfect party vibe had already erupted, and we slotted in beaming.

Like all good things, it came to an end. As we searched for our car we wandered past a house party playing wicked tunes. We introduced ourselves and were soon dancing in the paddling pool with our host Grant, who’d turned 23.

Not wanting to outstay our welcome it was on to Massey East for Isaac’s 30th. When Regan pulled out a sealed bottle of Agavero, and Hanna the sparklers, the gathering ignited.

We pit stopped via everyone’s house to refresh on the way to the rendevous point, that took blimmin ages. We played deck soccer, limbo, poo-sticks, jousting and pole-vault. Glowing we moved on to Club Luxury’s Summer Fiesta. There were 2 clubs to go between, Spy or Trench, it was the latter though that the majority enjoyed the most, maybe it was Sam Hill’s stonking tunes, or Grant Hall’s enthusiasm for those tunes, I’m undecided, but I’ll be back.

One text lead to another and we were back at Pompallier Tce to crack on. At approximately 8am I clicked that we were all in fancy dress and dancing like ompaloompas in the living room avoiding the persisting drizzle outside. I took pix but looked at them the next day and erased the evidence.

The day panned out well, the sun joined us again as did some oomph-adding new recruits. Because of this OTT party extravaganza I going to Whangamata and Mount Maunganui for the remainder of this week (email me if anyone’s down that way). But I’ll be back fighting fit come Saturday morning, ready to tackle a sure to be stellar dance event at Stonyridge. Catch the 2pm ferry with me, pure fun assured.