Fighting their way north...

Bill Direen managed to smuggle this message out of the hippy haven of Takaka last night:

Hi Scott,

At the top of the south island, tour going well. Accident road closure on the Lewis PAss (not us) meant we had to come back around the east coast to Nelson yesterday... mucho driving.

Gigs going well. People everywhere great...

Hard on the heels of their rave write-up in the Sunday Star-Times, Bill and his mates Andrew Maitai and Otis Mace have scored an interview-profile on Radio New Zealand, which you can listen to here. Fanatical followers of this blog will remember that Bill spent a long time talking to Kim Hill last year, as Radio New Zealand's Paris culture correspondent. Don't ever say the man isn't versatile.

You can see Bill and some of his his mates live next Saturday, at the Party for your Right to Fight.

Someone who's had a slightly rockier time in the South Island is my mate and cover designer Ellen Portch, who experienced her second amateur kickboxing fight recently in Queenstown. Ellen's first tussle prompted the most prodigous debate in the history of this blog, as Richard Taylor urged kickboxers to abandon their wicked ways. Ellen comments on her latest fight:

damn it! lost on close points decision, happy though as I held my own against a more experienced and heavier fighter (don't you just love the ref :)

just a few more days till the next one in Rotorua...

Good luck in Rotovegas, Ells!