We thoroughly enjoyed this famous air show in company with thousands of others. As I said in the previous blog there was a special huge parking space available for motorhomes and caravans which meant we did not have to put Penny in Pet Care for the three nights we were there. Graeme and Barbara offered to dog sit a few times so we could go over to the main area to check out various displays. Other times we sat up near the fence with umbrellas.

The weather was at times threatening but remained hot and mostly sunny but unfortunately also rather windy so the oldest aircraft could not fly on the last day. The wind  made interesting patterns to the smoke trails left by the formation or stunt flyers.

The Army was there in force. Whatever the fascination is with old army vehicles it is still alive and kicking! They can even provide shade for a picnic.

in particular, there were Bren gun carriers. 33 of them, of which 27 managed to trundle a complete circuit of the airfield and create a new world record.

There were models of two very early New Zealand aeroplanes – Richard Pearse’s and the Pither – plus a number of vintage planes from Peter Jackson’s collection.  I’m glad I took photos on the first day as they could not be flown on the second due to the wind.

Here’s an interesting cloud formation.

And some of Dave’s planes….. 

Labelled with special neck tags, we were able to enter and leave the large park at will, so once established on our site we made a beeline for the nearest laundromat and then library, one of the first we have encountered on our travels which charges for power use. By then I was desperate to get my computer properly fired up and send off a couple of blogs!

On our last day in Masterton we enjoyed a lovely lunch with Dave’s cousin Judith and husband Les, who said they had just installed a new washing machine “especially for us”. I gave it a good workout – many thanks, J & L! Penny behaved very well towards their three cats. She has not yet met a friendly feline since we left the chestnut orchard in Christchurch, but is always hopeful. Laden with clean washing and garden produce we finally set off to join the NZMCA-organised Wairarapa Safari at Castlepoint.