Holiday Journal - June 26th Flights to the UK

Having managed to get last minute flights to the UK I had a flurry of activity on the morning of the 26th June.

After getting up and finishing the last of my packing. I got taken to the airport instead of having to leave my car in the car park at some extorsional price.

After booking in and passing immigration control I had a few hours to kill so milled around the shops.

Once we got called to the gate I found my seat and got settled in for the first leg of the trip. We pushed back from the gate on time and all was looking good. Then the pilot came on and said we had to go back to the gate as someone onboard had left their bag in departures with all their paperwork in it.

After collecting this and pushing back again we got out of Auckland. It was a nice clear day with great views over the city and surrounding country.

Climbing to cruising altitude we headed for Sydney. Not long before the meal was due we hit turbulence and the pilot informed us that there was heavy weather ahead and was going to climb over it. This put us into a stronger headwind and would cause us to be slightly late in.

The flight was nice and smooth, and then we started our descent to Sydney and into a bit of a rollercoaster ride. The turbulence was back. Now I get to fly into Wellington, NZ, fairly often and that is meant to be a bumpy ride, but this was far worse.

Finally we got through and dropped below the clouds. While Auckland had been nice and sunny, Sydney was wet and grey.

We finally made it to the terminal but by this time we were 30 mins late and a number of us were meant to be boarding the flight to Frankfurt via Singapore. So a quick dash through Sydney airport, with a stop for security control just encase we had managed to get hold of something since boarding in Auckland, got us to the gate for the next flight.

We hussled on and found our seats. And sat there, and sat there and sat there. The pilot came on and told us there was a discrepancy with some of the paper work that had to be filled in.

We finally got pushed back about an hour late and started the trip to Singapore.

This was a nice flight. Spent a fair amount of time flicking through the entertainment and settled on music and read my book.

We made up a bit of time on the flight and they decided to keep the turnaround time in Singapore right down. So 40 mins later we were back on the plane and headed for Frankfurt.

Spent the first part of the flight trying to sleep. No matter what I try those economy seats just don't allow for anything approaching decent sleep. Started to flick through the entertainment again. At some point my screen decided to play up and put all movie and TV shows into negative. By this time I was fed up with the music and radio stations so even though the colours were all off I watched a few of the TV shows. And then back to music and another attempt at sleeping. I think I must have dozed through the next couple of hours because next thing I properly remember the lights were back on and breakfast was being served. After that it was back to my book for the approach to Frankfurt. We had made up time on this leg as well so instead of arriving half an hour after my onward flight was meant to have departed I arrived about 15 mins before. So I raced round Frankfurt airport to find my connection

Got to the gate to find that the plane was being held and the flight was going to be 15 mins late leaving. Once we got onto the plane we got the news that the paper work was wrong (again) and we missed our slot for takeoff. Once everything was finally sorted we were about 45 mins late leaving. After a short hop we hit the holding pattern at Heathrow. Finally got in an hour late.

Once I got picked up and taken home I decided that I really had to try to stay awake, we landed at around 9am UK time and I had been on the go for something like 37 hours with little sleep.

I managed to stick it out until 4pm when I finally passed out. I woke up at 3am. Ah well

Jousting

So one of my hobbies for a long time has been 14th and 15th century re-enactment. For a long time I was with a group based out of South London called The Paladins Of Chivalry.

Since moving to New Zealand kind of dropped out of it all. Then after a few years I came across a group called The Company Of The Lance, based in Auckland. I got in contact and meet up with them. Immediately I was hooked again, and while this was a jousting group instead of the foot combat I was more used to I joined up.

Since then we have added a foot combat element to the group and are hoping to add archery and living history as time and peoples interests allow.

When people hear that I am involved in jousting I get the 'standard' round of questions,What on a horse? Doesn't it hurt? Are you really trying to hit each other? etc

Well for the record.

1. Yes they are real horses.
2. Yes we really are trying to hit each other, although we aren't trying to knock each off just break lances on each other
3. Yes it can hurt, but injury's are fairly rare. The Armour worn is copied from period pieces and is very good at protecting us.
4. No I personally don't joust. On the whole I work in the list area as a marshal or squire. I can ride and I am working towards riding in Skill at Arms.
5. Yes the swords are made of metal, the ones used in combat are blunt but still very capable of causing serious injury.

Each year The Company of the Lance organises a tournament in Taupo, New Zealand and has combatants for all over the world attend.

If anyone is interested in getting involved in re-enactment for any period I would encourage them to do it. If your in New Zealand, especially Upper North Island let me know. But even if your not feel free to get in touch if you want to know more. I might even be able to help you track down a group to join.

Diving

One of the things I have always wanted to try is Scuba diving.

When I moved to New Zealand I decided that it was finally time to learn. I did a bit of searching around and finally enrolled in a PADI open water course with Dive HQ West Auckland.

 

After having a few problems with some of the skills in the pool I was a bit apprehensive about the open water dives but I found everything much easier when I had more depth to work in.

 

I still haven't managed to log anywhere near as many dives as I would like but i try to get out at least 4 times a year. I'd love top get out twice a month but I just don't seam to have the time.