South Island Day 9 : 1 April 2018
Fine , cloudy, windy, 18°C
Got up early at 6am ( daylight savings ended overnight, so the clock made it seem earlier than it was ). I walked 20 minutes to the Wanaka end of the bay to shoot the predawn light ( there was not a cloud in the sky, so I new I wouldn't get any sunrise colour ). Walked back to camp at 7:30, grabbed some breakfast and headed off in the van at 8:30am.
Today was the day we had been planning for for just on a year. Warbirds over Wanaka had always been on our list of things to go to, ever since seeing a couple of airshows at Leuchars in Scotland while we were over there. So around this time in 2017 we booked tickets to the show, airfares, accommodation at Glendhu Bay, and a campervan. And the year long wait to go see WoW ended today.
There wasn't too much traffic as we got near the airport ( they had the roads closed around the airport, with diversions, so only WoW traffic was allowed near). We found a parking spot and wandered into the airport perimeter at 9am. We headed for the Silver Pass stand and grabbed our seats for the days entertainment. Apart from each of us leaving our seats once to go get lunch / ice creams, this is where we stayed for the whole day.
Right from the start the programme was non-stop, with some of the highlights being the F-16's, the Boeing 757, the Black Falcons, the Globemaster's flyover, the mass Harvards ( 11 in total ), and the RNZAF parachutists.
The hardest part of the day ( apart from keeping up with what was happening ) was having to look up into the blue skies and often directly into the sun. It could have been worse I guess.
The show finished at 4pm and we left at 4:30pm, with only about a 10 minute wait to get out of the carpark. We headed into town ( also not too much of a jam ), found a carpark by the lake and headed to Amigo's Mexican restaurant for tea. Not sure if it was the Easter Sunday weird alcohol sales rules but town seemed very quiet.
After tea we rushed back to the van and found a spot on the eastern shore of Roy's Bay to shoot the sunset then back to camp at 7pm.
A busy, but enjoyable, day, and well worth the 1 year wait. Might have to come back next time in 2 years time.
I shot about 700 photos ( Liz took 300+ ) but I have limited the ones here to just a few highlights.
