Well for the last 10 days I have been camped in Spa Park in Taupo New Zealand work on this year’s event. On Sunday the 20th Jan a team of 9 adults and 4 children left various parts of Auckland and headed south. Arriving at Spa Park we quickly set up what would become our initial base camp and quickly emptied the truck that was heavily packed. after clearing the truck a small group of us piled in and head off to collect the hay bales that had been ordered for the event, by this time it was getting dark and the bales were helpfully scattered over a field, they were also bone dry so working in the confines of the back of the truck stacking them was not the worlds most pleasant experience. 3 trips later all the hay was on-site and we gratefully passed out.
Monday brought us rain; however we were on a tight time frame so while the girls tried to sort out the camp and entertain the children most of the guys piled into the truck to start laying out the security fence. Nic and Matt also took the time to start marking out the locations of the various arenas that would be built and nominal positions for the various camps.
After dinner we headed down to the river where a hot spring feeds into the main river to have a good soak.
Tuesday brought even more rain, however the fence line still needed to be finished and the first of the medieval tents had to go up as we needed to store gear in them so the work tent had enough space for us to work in. As well as the security fencing that was going up we also had to fence off various areas around the site and we have some hard standing fences that were to be erected. Blue the fencing contractor arrive around mid morning and was taken through all the requirements and promptly got on with setting out the fences we wanted him to build, a task that would see him on site each day for the rest of the week. Despite the rain I managed to get sun-burnt feet as I was working barefoot while my boots dried out from the previous day.
Wednesday brought the first of the re-enactor groups to the site, it also brought the sun. Each had to be located in the correct place so there was a fair amount of running around helping people put up tents. The international jousting teams and the horses also arrived around mid afternoon and started to get themselves sorted out. The site was starting to come together slowly.
Thursday arrived and so did more groups. The site was really starting to take shape now. As Blue had finished the hard fencing in the battle arena we started setting the inner rope fence that was our safety line. The riders and horses started various activities to get them all accustomed to each other.
Friday and the mad rush started. The last day of setup and lots of little jobs to do. More groups arrived plus the traders needed to be sited correctly. PA systems were going in place. Blue kept on the fencing; he finally finished up about 9pm I think. Porta-loos arrived and had to be hidden away so as not to spoil the medieval feel of the sight, Fire-pits were dug the dinning marquee arrived and had to be put up, the hay bales were relocated to were they would be needed. Final timetables were set. In the joust arena we were putting together the Skill at Arms run. The riders were getting practice in on the targets that were new to them and general chaos appeared to prevail. However by the time everyone finally called it a day and headed to river for a soak the site was 99% complete.
Saturday and the event opened. There was a bit of running around putting up the last of the rope fences and the Romans were busy setting up for the morning’s crucification. The pubic started arriving and everyone started having fun. The some of the team that had been onsite since the Sunday were still busy running around in the background filling water points, clearing rubbish bins, organising latecomers etc.
Sunday arrived and we continued to entertain in the blazing sun. 2 of the riders did an open joust pass as part of the day’s battle. This lead to the un-horsing of Jezz which seamed to be a fairly popular event with the public. The day ended with a banquet for both the re-enactors and the public. After the banquet there was much dancing thanks to Twisty Willow. I finally called it a night at about 4am, knowing that I had to be up in 4 hours to get on with Mondays joust.
Monday brought many bleary eyed re-enactors out of bed, a fair few had been up till the early hours and some hadn't bothered going to bed at all. The day went smoothly and finished with the prize giving. Each competition that had run over the weekend need to have its winners awarded. As well as this were some special prizes. One was given to a particularly mad foot man that let the jousters bash his shield with lances, right up to the point where one of them managed to drive a lance right through, nice shot Graham.
There was also a special show of appreciation of Nic and Istar. They had organised the event and effective put life on hold for a number of months to see it happened. The re-enactors all felt that this was one of the best events in NZ and wanted to show their appreciation and put together a goody bag of stuff. On the whole they gave personal kit which, to me as well as to Nic and Istar, meant far more than most anything else over the weekend.
Tuesday, and with the event over people started breaking camp and heading off. By nightfall only 8 adults and 1 child remained. We decided to order pizza and enjoy our selves, unfortunately the pizza appeared to be a bit to rich on stomachs that hadn't been fed often and with people suffering with heat and physical exhaustion and Wednesday morning had about half the group being ill. However we had to be off site by the end of Wednesday so we all pulled together to get the last of the gear down. Around 10am the last of the jousters headed off with the horses, bound for Auckland. That left just 4 adults, 1 of whom was still suffering from the Pizza and heat, and 1 child. We beavered away until finally at about 5pm the site was clear of everything except the hard fencing, Blue was due to start taking it down later in the week, and 1 fire pit that a Bobcat was going to fill in for us. We climbed wearily into the car and the truck and headed home. Thankfully Matt was able to drive my car home as I was ion now fit state to drive, I was the one suffering from pizza and heat related uselessness all day.
