Blenheim – Lay day March 24th - Day 5

We woke up at the camp under the SH1 bridge like a bunch of trolls. It had rained overnight and water ponded on the road. We formed up and convoyed out to the Omaka Aviation History Museum. The Packards had caught us up and both groups lined up in the carpark. There are separate entry charges for the WWI section and the WWII section, or a combined ticket. Lively discussion ensued as to which was best and how to do a group booking.

The museum is truly world class with some fantastic displays and artefacts. You can see the hand of Weta Workshops in the dioramas. Even the lighting is brilliant in its subtlety. A highlight is a German cross on fabric cut from the Red Baron’s crashed aircraft. The Australians souvenired anything they could get including the Baron’s boots!

In the WWII side we saw a twin-engine Anton and a Yak 3 that would be at Warbirds over Wanaka a week later. There were about 12 people tagging in and out at Blenheim. The Gisborne military motorcycle squad arrived. Harry who did the first section flew back to work until Easter.

We caught up with maintenance and resupplies before dinner and an outdoor movie.