Chapter 7

When we arrived at the hotel, we were quickly given our pass cards and shown to our rooms. Our whole planeload was in a single wing that had hotel security on the doors, the receptionist having told me that they had detected intruders already.

My room was pleasant, the drawers and wardrobe supplied with fresh clothing, including two dresses for the show. I stripped, showered and put on a fresh nightie to get some sleep, which eluded me for a while as I thought about the love session with Lesley and the hurdle that she had carried me over. Never in my life had I ever thought about making love with a vibrator stuck in my butt and it was incredible! I wondered at what she would do next time as I finally nodded off.

The shows in Christchurch were a little smaller but no less hectic. There was a stage built in the big city park and the whole thing was surrounded by a fence. Thousands of plastic chairs were spaced out and all the facilities were portables.

It was weird, in this day and age of huge stadiums, but really quite lovely when the show got under way. I and my crew were in our long dresses and at the main gate at six to meet the dignitaries. We had a big marquee behind the stage for the food and drink with a smaller one attached for the changing room.

It was really magical in the first half with the girls singing to a local orchestra under the stars. When the second half started, I could see people stacking the chairs and creating dance space, something that could never happen in a stadium with fixed seating.

As usual, many tut-tutted with the band look and the lyrics but none of the dignitaries left. Perhaps the lure of the after-show party was enough for them to swallow their distaste and hang on.

Lesley had given me a kiss and a hug at the half-time break and did so again afterwards. The system had developed where we both would stand together and chat with the most important visitors first, so being able to discuss any part of the tour and the operations.

What was becoming different was we sometimes did so standing hand in hand. I had noticed that sometimes the band members would do this as well, no doubt to bolster the lie of their sexuality; except, of course, the two actual lesbian lovers.

This all had the effect of fending off guys who wanted to see if they were ravers off stage as well. The result was more attention given to my crew, obviously beautiful as well and also obviously not hanging on to each other. I think that it would pay for them to brush up on their self-defense skills.

I texted Bronwyn the next day to ask her if she could organize some time for all of us in a gym when we were in Australia. That done the only thing I had to worry about was getting us to Auckland after the second show.

We would be leaving early in the morning and would just go up, sit for a while, and come down again. Our flight plan was to keep to a lowish height as the views from the plane as we passed over the volcanic region of the North Island were something to see.

The second show went off well, there was a bit of a party, and we all went off to bed, leaving the roadies to dis-assemble the stage and ship it to Brisbane. Our route in Australia would take us down the east coast from Brisbane to Sydney, then Canberra and on to Melbourne, all in large stadiums.

Then it was on to Adelaide and Perth for smaller shows. The tour had been set up to keep us in sunnier parts during the southern hemisphere summer, moving to Europe, the UK and back to USA during the northern summer and, so far, it had worked well.

Next morning the crew all had an early breakfast and were taken to the airport where we checked Betsy over. We were joined by Jim who was a chatterbox with his experiences so far. He had used yesterday to get a hire car (booked to his room) to take him to the New Zealand Airforce Museum and would, I think, regale us with the pictures during the flight.

We would not be carrying a lot of fuel for the short hop and there was no time for a proper meal, so we were just set up for drinks and snacks. I sat with Jim and had a look at his pictures while we waited for the passengers. After looking at the planes we went on to the ones he had taken at the two shows, and I was impressed.

Not being a music journalist, he had no restrictions on his subjects, and he had taken a lot of candid shots of people in the crowd, including several of me. I queried him on that, and he told me that as a captain of a jet airliner I was a heroine to him so I hugged him and told him to take more of Molly because I think she would become a captain very soon.

I got him up into the cockpit and sitting in the pull-down seat while I stood with the cabin crew to greet our passengers again. Once we had taken off, I swapped seats with him so he could see the vista as we went north to Auckland.

As you pass over the west side of the North Island there is a volcanic range to the right and, standing magnificently alone on the left is a single peak that, to my mind, almost equals Mount Fuji in Japan for sheer beauty. I looked at Molly and she said to let him stay there for landing and he experienced the sheer terror that is the first sight of a tiny bit of concrete that you approach at a silly rate of knots and expect to put down on.

I could see his knuckles whiten as we were getting closer. You may get blasé about landings after a while, but it never pays to discount the inherent danger of every one of them. As they say, the only good landing is one you walk away from.

In Auckland we were directed to a sky-bridge on the domestic side and the band left the aircraft first. We all sat for a while and then the radio reported that the melee had moved out to the car park area so our other passengers could leave.

Finally, a tug was hooked on, and we were towed to the maintenance side where a bus waited for us crew and Jim, who was really keen to experience every facet of the life of a crew. He watched and took photos as we made sure the plane was clear before handing over to the ground crew to make sure we would be ready for the flight to Brisbane.

The only problem we had was that we had to get the bus driver to take us to the domestic luggage pick-up where Jim’s bag was doing lonely circuits. I told him that the next place was another country so he would have to go through immigration control along with the rest of us.

The first show was the next evening to allow time for interviews and there would be four nights here. On the way to the Hilton Jim badgered me to come with him to see the aircraft collection at the Museum of Transport and Technology as they had some interesting aircraft on display. We had all day so once we had been to our rooms and changed, Molly and I met up with him in the lobby. He, the little tyke, had already organized a car for us

I have to say that the visit was very interesting. They have a complete Sunderland Flying Boat as well as the last Short Solent in the world. There is even a Lancaster bomber which had been built after the war for the French as a maritime search aircraft.

We had lunch in the main section of the museum and then wandered around the other displays before going back to the hotel. My only problem was being taken for Mollys’ mum and Jims’ grannie by one of the attendants. When we got back, we sat with Jim while he uploaded his pictures.

I noticed a file marked ‘Betsy on Tour’ and queried it. He looked sheepish but finally opened it and there were two Publisher files. The first was ‘Hawaii show 3’ and the other was ‘Christchurch x 2’. When he opened up the first it revealed a write-up of the show along with a number of pictures of the band, as well as a bunch of candid crowd shots. The picture that made me laugh was the Governor looking like she had swallowed a slice of lemon.

He explained that the newspaper that had published his original picture had given him a payment for the picture and had told him, once it was known he would be on the plane; that they would pay for articles from the tour as we carried on.

He assured me that none of the pictures crossed the guidelines I had set in place. The second file was a pastiche of both shows and he was very taken with the chair stacking and dancing, as well as the line-up of well-dressed ladies waiting in line outside one of the port-a-potties.

He then showed me the email he had got from the paper after he had submitted the first one, telling him that they had put him on the payroll as a junior after they had seen the pictures. I gathered that they were a publication that followed the other party.

I had to laugh but told him to run the next submissions past either me or Molly in future but to keep up the good work. I sent Bronwyn a text to ask her to get copies of the Hawaiian paper as they may be running a story about every venue. I also asked her to send me a company badge with ‘Tour Photographer’ on it.

Bronwyn sent a text back later saying that Terry had seen a copy of the first story and had loved the pictures, so they were getting the paper on-line. She also said that Terry had approved Molly to get her Captains’ papers early, seeing that she had put in the hours needed and her new badge and paperwork would be waiting for me in Brisbane.

I knew that it would be an advantage for future stops if we had two captains on board, this tour was turning out to be a magnet for the wealthy and connected and they did appreciate being looked after by the captain.

The following day was the first of three shows in Auckland at a big sporting ground where they usually played some strange football game with as much violence as the one back home but without any padding or time-outs. Even the kicker had to be part of the normal team on the ground.

I was in the salon for a special session where my wig, thigh bumps and breasts were unglued and the skin where the glue had been given special creams to make sure I didn’t get any reactions. While I was there, I had a manicure and pedicure; it was so relaxing to let others look after all your nails.

When it came time to replace everything, they put a fresh pair of breasts on me, making sure that most of the glue was in fresh spots and using a less invasive one to seal the edges. Like before, when I looked down, I could hardly tell the difference between them and my normal skin. I was told that when I looked in the drawers for fresh gaffs, they would be padded so my skin could be free of the pads in future.

Before fitting the new wig, they re-shaved my head and made sure that I had no more ear or nose hair to mess up the look. The wig was a new one and, although the same color as before, it was much fuller and was down past my shoulders. With it in place I was given a new style which emphasized the fuller body but hid the actual length unless I wanted to brush it out. I looked at the mirror and saw a far more feminine me looking back.

I only had time for lunch with the crew before we were up in our rooms being dressed and made-up for the show. While we were waiting for our transport, I saw Lesley and told her about Jim and his newspaper submissions.

She told me that her people were already on to it and his articles would be syndicated if they continued to be as good as the first couple. She loved the idea of more candid shots of the audience and had organised an ‘Access All Areas’ pass for him at this venue and beyond.

When we arrived at the arena, we found a curious mix of the previous ones. The seating was in the stands and on the playing area with the stage at one side; a covered walkway led to the under-stand facilities.

The sound guys were having problems with echo but my experience from other tours told me that this would be largely nullified when there are crowds of people in the stands to absorb the soundwaves. It would be a real bitch if the band played to half-empty audiences, but I had been told that this was unlikely.

Sound would not be a problem for our dignitaries. They had seats either side of the mixing desk, around the middle of the playing area, so would get the best sound in the place. The biggest difference for these shows was that we would have to lead them around the edge of the ground to a marquee that was set up behind the stage and linked to the covered walkway. They were also delivered to the artist entrance, rather than the public one. Of course, a few would complain at the lack of exposure, but it would be too hard to bring them in with the paying customers and maintain security.

Marianne Gregory © 2022