"Amazing" New Zealand

In August I had the great privilege of taking my Best of World Balloon Convention class to New Zealand. While I was there they gave me a new name. No longer am I MAD Dave Taylor, but check out the sign - The Amazing Dave Taylor! It works for me!

Auckland was first stop and our 30 class attendees did not quite fit in the photo. Such is life!

My teaching style is slightly different to others. I have attended many classes over the years and nothing is more boring that someone standing up the front talking all day. So in my class there is lots of hands on, so no-one has the opportunity to start snoring.......

Please make sure you smile when you are helping me with the demo, because you might end up on my blog....

And by the end of the day we ended up with all sots of great ideas. The taper daisy, that I am holding, the winnie-the-pooh bubble towers, the taper columns at the very bottom, and much more.

Here are the Christchurch balloonies. These are the tough ones that braved the freezing temperatures to get to class, so well done I say. A fun day was had by all.

Thankyou to all my New Zealand friends - both new and old - for making my trip such a memorable one. You guys are all great!

love your work!

Footy Finals - Wests Tigers

The footy finals are long gone now, and no the Wests Tigers did not feature in the Grand Final. However when it was still up in the air we were called in to decorate Wests Ashfield Leagues Club. On Monday the client walked us through the club and outlined their desires.

We we asked to install on the Tuesday......!

WestsTigers is a joint venture club so everything had to be split down the middle - black and orange for Tigers and black and white for Wests.

So we burnt the midnight oil and came up with the following designs to fulfil the client needs.

1)An entry piece that will wow everyone as they enter the club!

2)The Sports Bar was very bland so we gave it a bit of a lift

3)The escalators leading up to the lounge. Lots of garland was the answer and it fitted perfectly in the cavity beside the lifts.

4)Finally, the restaurant. "We want a big arch and something else around the place."

Large Topiary Balls - big impact, but high enough to be out of harms way, and will definitely go the distance.

The client was very happy, as were the thousands of fans who turned up to the club to watch the final. Unfortunately the result did not go their way, but the club was happy, as everyone hung around the enjoy the fantastic atmosphere created by the balloons.