Going to Australia...

Us Snowdies left our home at 4am to catch the 7am flight from ChCh to Brisbane and all went according to plan.  The arrival went pretty smoothly too, all paperwork in order and pleased to see Alan & Casey waiting for us in the arrivals hall.  Just to wait for Jason and we'll be off, says Alan.  We happened to see Jason in the next police booth, looking slightly stressed so I suggested it may take a wee while.  The wee while turned into an hour.  Then another hour.  Finally emerged being all the wiser about pulling apart his rifle/trigger action and putting it all back together again.  Lesson to all future travellers: if your rifle serial number is not clearly visible have it engraved in an obvious spot. Never mind, couldn't have happened to a more appropriate team member - our Assistant Armourer!

Off to collect another rental vehicle and check into the Gateway Resort.  We're sharing unit 23 with Amy and Cathy, Amy had already claimed her room the day before, Cathy was still to arrive so she has the smallest room with the bunk beds.  Mmm, nice smell in the unit, coconutty, overdid it with the body lotion, Amy...  No,turns out it was due to the remnants of 2 bottles of Malibu, broken in transit and Amy spending hours the previous night sieving the glass from the precious liquid.  Lesson #2: discounted duty free is fine as long as you have a sturdy padded bag.

Off to the range for a look (my first time here, totally blown away with the range and facilities!) and a catch-up with the Veterans at the QRA Club.  Very sad to hear a couple of our vets have taken ill, John Fleming in hospital with a very painful back and another suffering from asthma (sorry, I don't know who), we hope they recover soon and get to enjoy some of their time here.

Coby

Unit 23, flying the NZ flag!