Warbirds Over Wanaka Easter 2018

Another exciting display of flying
This time the RNZAF

We were instructed originally to arrive at the Camp Site between 7 and 10 am on Good Friday for the practice day of War Birds Over Wanaka, but thankfully as they had 350 Campers vans arriving, all expected to get onto the property within the 3 hr period (otherwise clashing with the Airshow traffic) they sent out a text to the first 150 that had booked to arrive after 5pm on the night before. Great, as it meant we didn't need such an early start the next day!

Feaux bombs after another low level
Fly by

The Packards returning after a slow graceful
 rumble along the runway.

Best view in town with Sam & Pauline

The Harvards
a very distinctive drone.

Thess guys were hanging around.

Freedom campers locked up!

Stunning  backdrop for the Event.

We duly arrived just before 5 having come from Queenstown (J&M's) to find almost all 150 had already arrived & were parked up. So within 10 minutes we had unhooked the car to park in another parking area for the duration of the show and were parked up on our spot looking out at 150 other Buses /Campers / Caravans - our first time at one of these big motorhome events. But! The view from the front of the paddock was spectacular - what a picturesque setting for this annual event.
The next morning we meet up with Sam & Pauline (all the way from Hahei) whom we had been out of touch with for the past 3 years. We thought they were still busy with their lives running the full on General Store in Hahei, but no..... they had sold it last October and were now enjoying much more freedom with their grown families and getting out and about in their camper. Thus the reason for their trip down this way was Warbirds Over Wanaka - something they also had on their Bucket List.
Over the next three days we did a lot of catching up, a glass or two of wine and a lot of laughs. It was good to share the event with another couple, which we have previously said, we do miss the company of friends - as you can imagine, by now Bill and I know pretty much what each other is thinking! Occasionally we surprise each other :)
The three day event was excellent - Friday being the practice day so you weren't really sure what was about to happen next. Saturday and Sunday had a program but.... Saturday didn't go quite to plan with a mishap happening in the first 5 minutes of the show. A Yak clipped a cherry picker in the middle of the grass runway - thankfully on landing not take off. We haven't been able to figure out why the cherry picker was where it was! But it wasn't there on Sunday
Our view out over the terrace was excellent. You could see all that was happening on the ground as well as in the sky and as I've said the setting was so picturesque - perfect location. We did pop down to the grounds Saturday afternoon to catch up with Bob (down from Nelson at the event for the day) and had a look at the various displays. But the view of the show that was going on up in the air was best from our terrace up above the airport. So Sunday we spent the day taking in the whole show from the terrace and it was just as exciting as the first day as it is a full on show with acrobatics happening in the air and planes taking off and landing. Must be a mission for the control tower to keep actual control of the whole event.
There were the iconic warbird aircraft plus modern military machines. An Aussie Hawk 127 fighter jet trainer flew in from Queenstown and an C17 Globemaster III (a big American cargo and troop transporter) from Christchurch that was too big to land at Wanaka airport, both putting on great displays of what they were capable of. Plus our own RNZAF Hawker Beechcraft T-6C's.
There was plenty of action with mock battles happening in the sky / skydiving / aerobatics plus the vintage Packard cars in a display of their own along with the Army doing mock battles similar to WWII. Not a dull moment. It was a great three days.