March 15 - Omaki Aviation Heritage Centre, and Waikawa Boat Club

As we left Blenheim, we drove to the Omaki Aviation Heritage Centre. The airplanes, some of which are genuine, and some of which are replicas or working replicas, are set up in dioramas. Eric and I were both impressed with the Taube (Dove), a plane that actually looked like a bird, with swept back wings and a tail shaped like an actual bird's tail. Another scene replicated a crash (tree and all!), with the British pilot surrendering to the German one. One of the docents (who does tours) explained that this was infinitely preferable to waiting for the German infantry, who might well have just shot the pilot. The German pilot would have drinks and dinner with British one, before he was sent off to prison camp the next day. But that would be after the German pilot confiscated the flying suit the British pilot had been issued - apparently much better than what was on offer to the German pilots.

We drove the short distance back to Picton, booked into our room, and set off down to the Waikawa Boat Club. They had posted a notice on the bulletin board at Buccaneer's Lodge, saying that Tuesday was their race night, and any visitors were welcome to come down to see if they could get us out on a boat. It looked a tad overcast, so we drove down instead of walking (about 1 km.), and took our woolies. It was $10 a head to the club, and we were (both!) assigned to Mark Dodds, who was sailing Excel, a 33 foot Beale yacht (NZ built). His crew Ian reported in, and another scheduled crewperson begged off. It had begun misting, and there was a decent wind, so Mark decided that we perhaps did not need the spinnaker after all. The race was fun - we had a couple of exciting minutes with a port boat that did not judge their speed well, and a quick double tack to get onto the lay line for the windward rounding, in the presence of two rather close boats. Despite those, Excel came in first. We had drinks and deep fried oysters back at their club, and some interesting conversation. It was a fantastic night, and we are really grateful for the hospitality!

Tomorrow: Plimmerton for 3 nights while we tour Wellington.