Daniel Ramage is 21 years old and is the guitarist on this years tour team.  Daniel is originally from New Plymouth and came to live in Auckland to study at EXCEL last year.  Daniels diary is also a day in the life of a tour student as they deal with early morning pick-ups, numerous school concerts in a single day and concerts every Friday night and twice on Sunday.

It is a challenging, exhausting, and ultimately incredible year for tour team members, who often say at the end of the 20 week tour, that it was the best experience of their life. 
There are 20 tour team members who travel with a Tour Manager from Whangarei all the way to Invercargill in three vans and a truck.  Two host churches in each area provide the team members with people to stay with each week and this in itself is an incredible insight into the lives of people throughout New Zealand.  They also perform in a wide variety of schools from private girl’s schools to public co-eds.  They perform every day except Saturday and spend almost 24/7 together.

Diary Entry East Auckland - Daniel Ramage
6:30am Wake up
Straight into the shower and out, got dressed and did hair. Had to make lunch and quickly have breakfast. I like to give myself a bit of time to get ready but I couldn’t seem to shake the tiredness this morning.

7:30am Pickup
Traffic was a bit of a problem this morning. Made it to school a little late.

7:50am Set up for school show
By the time we made it to the school the rest of the team had already unpacked the truck. Straight into set up though. A lot of the team were tired this morning. Setting up for me involves setting up the JBL Speakers, Guitars, Amps, Guitar Pedal Board and making sure the Amp Rack has been plugged up right, then powering up the system.
 
8:10am Sound check starts for the Band and singers. We play through one of our songs. Then we go and get changed into our costumes and wait to be introduced to the school to start performing.

8:40am Elim Christian College - School Show starts
The Show went really well. The students seemed to have a good time!
Was able to catch up with a friend from the school which was a plus

9:10am Pack up starts but first we have to get changed out of our costumes. I power down the system and pack up everything I set up. Then load it all back into the truck.
          
9:40am We leave the school to head off to St Columba Church

10:00am Arrived at St Columba Church
Were able to sit down and relax for a bit which was great! I was feeling so tired. Found an op shop which had some kool stuff to buy. Went to shops to buy food too. Got to keep the energy up!

11:30am Had a meeting with the team to talk about what’s coming up.

12:00pm Left the church to head to another school.

12:30pm We unpack the truck and set up again, sound check and get changed again.

1:30pm Howick College - School show starts
The performance was really kool. They had a really good stage and lighting. Had heaps of fun at this school.

1:50pm We are in a huge rush to get to the next school. We had a fast packup and back on the road to the next school.

2:00pm Got to the school and had a fast set up. Got changed and had a quick sound check. 

2:30pm Edgewater College - School show starts
This was my favourite school performance of the day. The crowd was really responsive and enjoyed what we played.

3:00pm Packup started and we changed out of our costumes again, Packed the truck and back off to the church. 

3:30pm Arrived at St Columba Church.
We all unpacked the truck straight away and set up for tonight’s concert at the church. Sound checked again.
I think I’m ready to go to sleep! Its been a big day but now we’ve gotta get ready for the youth show tonight
We practiced the whole youth programme from about 4pm through till 6pm.

6:00pm We get 40min for a dinner break and to get ready. I had to fix my hair and get my costumes ready for my dramas.

6:40pm We come together as a team and just pray, encourage and boost each other up for the show. People start to come in and find seat.

7:00pm St Columba - Youth Show Starts
I made a couple hidden mistakes hahaha! I don’t think too many people noticed lol

8:30pm it’s finished. Another youth show done. The team is really happy with the way it went. I was happy with my guitar playing and dramas. It was a great night. I went out and meet some new people who came to the concert and had some really good feedback and encouragement. It means a lot when people enjoy watching what you do on stage haha. We don't have to pack up tonight which I’m stoked about! We come back on Sunday morning to perform our Sunday concert.

9:30pm we sat down as a team and had a debrief about the youth show. After that we decided what we were gonna do with our day off. SLEEP! Haha
           
We're off now, back home to our billets house and off to sleep.