There were smiles all round and plenty of "wiggly fingers" when Nesta Rei met his idols, The Wiggles.
Dressed in his pink Wiggles shirt, Nesta, 9, and members of his family gathered at Pettigrew Green Arena at 9am yesterday to meet the famous four-piece before attending their concert.
The Taradale boy, who
has Down syndrome, won a competition in Hawke's Bay Today to meet the popular childrens' entertainers. Nesta could barely contain his excitement before meeting Sam, Jeff, Anthony, his favourite Murray and their friend Captain Feathersword.
"Murray's my mate," he said.
Nesta did the group's trademark "wiggly fingers" as he posed for photos - a beaming smile on his face the whole time.
"I want to get on stage," he told Murray. Mother Fiona Burt said watching Nesta meet his lifelong idols was an emotional moment.
"I feel like crying," she said. "It shows dreams really do come true."
Nesta's aunt Rachel Burt said he woke at 3am because he was so excited.
"It was like the night before Christmas," she said with a laugh.
Nesta did manage to get another couple of hours sleep but at 6.20am he couldn't contain his excitement any longer so The Wiggles' DVD was put on.
Fiona said Nesta had already learnt the words and actions to all the songs on the new DVD he won last week in the competition.
She wanted to thank everybody who had entered on Nesta's behalf.
"It's just nice to see something so good happen."
