Virginia Tattoo Trip Day 10
For most of the girls the day started unpleasantly with a fire alarm causing a panic and a run to the meeting area outside the motel. For the boys however, they just slept on through. Most had mixed emotions about today, sad that the Tattoo was coming to an end but happy that they didn’t have to stand still for 20 minutes in the finale anymore. We started with our choreographed dances, Dancing Feet and Thistle and the Fern. One bystander proclaimed that we were “borderline brilliance” and a lot of Americans were wondering where we were from. After the success of the Hullabaloo show we proceeded to the tunnel for our final performances. This is where disaster struck. Within the first 32 counts of 51st Highlanders, Nicole Harding sprained her ankle in a parallel. She bravely continued the rest of the dance but ending up being our first and only casualty of the trip. Since then Nicole has been carried around either on the shoulder of one of the strapping young men on the team or by wheelchair. After finishing the final tattoo performance to an appreciative audience, The NZ team signed autographs for their adoring fans.
With excess food vouchers in hand the team headed to Outback steakhouse to order up large. The meals were awesome and it was nice to share this time with our hilarious adopted mom and dad, Nina (Sparkles) and Duffy. After gorging on Steak and Lobster tail, the team said farewell to Duffy, Nina, Mrs Unger, the Aussies and the American dancers.
We met up back at the hotel for our final party before packing. Awards were handed out to everyone on the trip for hilarious antics that we got up to. Then Daniel cranked out the pipes and tag team Jigs, Irish Reels, Irish hornpipes and Sailors were danced. Later the team went to the beach to set free their pet hermit crab (named Emma Cropper) to Amazing grace on the pipes. We then bid farewell to Elizabeth, Jamie and Daniel who will be sorely missed by the team. Now we are back in our rooms packing our bags, some of the girls bags look like they are bursting at the seams.
God Bless America,
Jayden Withington
