May 27, 2009
Tamworth’s top two festival ambassadors are in New Zealand to fly the flag as part of an annual pilgrimage between the Kiwi music capital and the Aussie country music capital.
The 2009 Queen of Country Music Jacqui Marsden and festival princess Stephanie Whitbread are spending six days in New Zealand as international celebrities at a host of country music events and civic functions.
The two will spend a lot of time in Gore, the Sister City to Tamworth and the south island’s country music magnet for young and old performers.
Along the way, they’ll also take in Dunedin and Queenstown. Jacqui, who is more at home in the saddle as an accomplished horse rider and one of the famous Electric Horsemen from the AELEC Opening Spectacular, will also take to the air.
She’s booked a seat in a vintage Flying Moth aircraft for a spin in the skies over Gore but will also visit a number of studs and horse training complexes while she’s there.
For princess Stephanie, the trip is her first time overseas – and she’s jumped right into the adventure tourism game. Stephanie is booked to do a 9000 foot sky dive to boot.
But country music isn’t playing second fiddle to the tour itinerary – the girls will see plenty of action over the five-day Gore festival – from the Gore Gold Guitar awards, to street busking, music auditions and acoustic walkup concerts, the New Zealand Country Music Awards, the MLT Songwriting Awards, and the NZ Gold Guitar Awards series.
They will present trophies to winners but also see some of the famous tourist sites including the Hokonui Moonshine Museum, the famous Hook Line and Sinker museum, a gallery, and visit local schools, and visit the world famous glow worm caves at Te Anau.
Among the civic duties to cement the close sister city relationship between Tamworth and its Tasman country music capital will be a tree planting ceremony in the Tamworth Gardens, established a few years ago and every two years planted up with another tree to mark the musical bond between the centres. The girls flew out to New Zealand on May 26.