Tour Diary

En route at last!!

After much planning and anticipation the RAFTRC tour to New Zealand is underway!
We left Bisley today (29^th December) with a full coach load of equipment and luggage and after a smooth check-in we are now ready to fly with Air New Zealand to Auckland via Hong Kong. A mere 25 hours flying time!

We left Bisley with temperatures near freezing but are hoping to emerge in Auckland to a more temperate 25 degrees C.

Christmas came a little late for one member of our team since our ever patient and totally committed team manager, Chris Fitzpatrick, received a useful gift from the team of a new digital camera to record the memories of the tour. He was most impressed with the 16GB card - but how many pictures will he take? The picture shows Chris opening his late Christmas present.

Further reports when we arrive in Auckland on 31^st December in time for New Year’s Eve.

Half way there!

Twelve hours into the journey and stopping over in Hong Kong for two hours ready for the next half of the outward flight.

Best laid plans always go slightly awry….having had a smooth check in we then learned just as we were boarding that the luggage had been delayed from loading because of a “problem” since we were carrying ammunition. Fortunately it was all resolved with 15 minutes to spare. Our team manager kept smiling even when the flag pole was refused as carry on baggage and it had to go back through checked baggage. The trials of touring! But all are cheerful and on to Auckland.

Auckland Arrivals

The team has arrived safely in Auckland after nearly a whole day in the aircraft. We were pleased to find see the others who had travelled separately when we arrived but were only too keen to get away from the airport and on to the hotel in downtown. However, those who have toured before know that the formalities can take some time especially when 20 shooters descend on the police and customs representatives in the baggage hall. Patience is ever thus a virtue with Roger Wood and David Calvert showing us the way by taking it easy on the nearest available baggage carousel.

Auckland Skyline Once we were through to landside, we were very pleased to see Rex Chilcott who was able to help us with storing the rifles until we shoot at Te Puke later next week. It was then "merely" a case of picking up the rental vans and finding the hotel. Six vans set off, one was immediately left behind even before the convoy exited the waiting area of the airport and three more got lost in the 20km journey! It is 250km to Bay of Islands tomorrow - let's hope we do better on the map reading.

Tonight we have New Year's Eve in Auckland which is a city combining new and traditional colonial styles of architecture which the team has had a brief chance to explore this afternoon.

The team wishes all of our families and supporters a very Happy New Year and a healthy and successful 2009.

Happy New Year from the RAFTRC in Auckland

Fireworks on New Years Eve

The great thing about being 13hrs ahead is that we can celebrate New Year and still be in time to wish you a Happy New Year before it turns midnight in UK!
The fireworks were at the Sky Tower Auckland just by our hotel.

Waitangi – January 2nd

No comment!

The team is now enjoying a little time at Bay of Islands staying immediately adjacent to the Waitangi National Trust treaty grounds. It is the site of the signing of a treaty in 1840 admitting New Zealand to the British Empire, guaranteeing Maori land rights while providing Crown protection for the colonists and the Maoris.

The team has been enjoying a wonderful weekend sampling many of the attractions that the Bay of Islands area can offer. This is a prime tourist destination but still retains a feeling of not being crowded.

We have been able to enjoy boat trips (some under sail), exploration of the local town Paihia or taking the ferry to historic Russell, called in Victorian days the “Hell Hole of the Pacific” due to the wild goings on when the whaling fleets came in, but now a really pleasant place to visit.

For some it has been a chance to get over the colds and flu brought over from UK and probably incubated on the long flight but we could have no better place to rest and get better!

For those feeling good, and for the more active, golf, scuba diving and snorkelling has been on the agenda. Others have taken the opportunity to explore further a field in this area of Northland sampling the green farming and forest country or going up to “Ninety Mile Beach” in the far North west – it’s not actually ninety miles long but is very long indeed! All this under blue sunny skies in most part.

It’s been a day of rest after the long drive down from Bay of Islands and before the shoot with Te Puke RC tomorrow.

We have all been much impressed with the variety of the scenery as we drove south but surely the most spectacular sights for us visitors from UK waited for us in Rotorua where there are the geysers and hot mud pools – all the evidence of the geothermal activity and the historical volcanic happenings around the area. Even the big lake which the city borders is the results of a big volcano blast a long time ago!

Some from the team took the advantage of some historic aircraft flying on the way south as they passed by Auckland North Shore airport – more of that we hope in another report!

Two big team events tonight – Karen and Iain Robertson’s 10th wedding anniversary and the engagement of Laura Wright and Chris Fopp. Congratulations all round – lot’s to celebrate and we haven’t even started shooting yet!

Now we are down to business with our first shoot. We headed out from Rotorua to Te Puke range in the middle of a heat wave – probably good experience for us to further acclimatise ahead of the shoots at Trentham.

The range is set on rolling countryside - much different to the Bisley scene – with the firing points on top of volcanic outcrops with Pacific visible in the distance!.

This was an opportunity for checking that rifles had travelled well, that zeros were still accurate and for the shooters to (re)learn to cope with the heat. We are in the high 20’s Centigrade here compared to the freezing temperatures in the UK! We also took the opportunity of practising again the different style of “string” shooting which is used in New Zealand before we get into the major competitions at Trentham. We had individual shoots at 300 and 600 yards with David Calvert showing us the way.

We were looked after very well by the Te Puke Full Bore Rifle Club and we all admired their range set in the beautiful landscape although the gullies which run through it led to some “interesting” wind conditions. Good practice for us !

After the match, Te Puke provided us with a great barbeque of local produce including lamb cutlets and venison steak as well as great salads and fruit from this centre of the kiwi fruit growing area. We presented a trophy to Mike Buckley now in New Zealand from the UK for over two years and to Ron Godfrey who said our “unusual” policeman’s helmet trophy would go alongside others which visiting UK teams have pleased to give Te Puke Club over the years.

This was a special chance for us to make new friends and also for us to see something else of New Zealand life since Bruce Godfrey, brother of Dianne Collings, took us onto the farm and showed us the fine art of sheep shearing. This was interesting for all of us perhaps more so for those city dwellers of us. We saw him shear three sheep and wondered how one shearer can do 250 sheep a day!

After the shoot at Te Puke there was a final opportunity to see the sights around Rotorua before starting the long drive south to Upper Hutt.
A number of us congregated at Wai-o-Tapu to see the spectacular colours of the thermal pools which range through the rainbow.

Also we were intrigued by the regularity of the eruption of the Lady Knox geyser - at 1015 every day – amazing regularity for a natural phenomenon. The geyser is actually primed with a soap mixture which makes it erupt! Nevertheless it’s a spectacular show of nature and apparently how the geyser was found in the first place when some unsuspecting prisoners doing forestry work and wanting to do their washing in a thermal pool added soap and got a surprise!!!

After that it was goodbye to Rotorua full of memories of geysers by day and by night. Onward to Upper Hutt!

There are some amazing landscapes on the way which we thoroughly enjoyed but some of us decided to take a break at the RNZAF museum at Ohakea - at least we thought so! It was clearly signposted on the tourist maps (and indeed in our 2007 guidebook) – but the slightly bemused gate guard at the base said it closed two years ago and moved to Christchurch – and about ten people have asked today about it! Some of the rest of our group???

We all travelled our separate ways with one group deciding to head for a very different landscape at the ski resorts of Whakapapa on Mount Ruapehu, New Zealand’s highest volcano – snow covered even now in the NZ high summer. Mount Ruapehu stood in for “Mount Doom” in the Lord of the Ring’s films.

We had some really spectacular views from even half way up Mount Ruapehu of the outstanding New Zealand countryside

When nearly into Upper Hutt one intrepid vehicle decided to take a “main road” shortcut. We hadn’t bargained for it getting narrower and narrower (about 1½ cars width we thought when one local passed us by very close) steeper and steeper and a lot longer than it seemed on the map. The “car czar” we think will ban us from going back that way – the insurance excess is just too much!

So here we are ready to start the serious business of shooting – we hope the sign on the road down the ridge into Upper Hutt will be showing us the way – 50 with two centres!. Some “marksman” had clearly been there before us!

Equally some of the groups went through the town of “Bulls” and we hope that the signs seen by Brian Jones and Mick Silver will be of what we all get - highest “Poss-a-bulls”, of course!!