Following a stressful and busy week with everyone passing their IFR skills tests (some with only minutes to spare due to a dicky seat - Rogers!) the end of the New Zealand phase of training was marked with a spit roast BBQ for all at Peachgrove.
A character calling himself 'Brownie' appeared in the carpark armed with a do it yourself spit roasting kit and soon had a meat feast prepared. High spirits were abound and fun and frolics ensued from the outset. cp19 had noticed that Mark, being a dedicated follower of fashion, had sported a tank top outfit on a number of previous occasions - and therefore made a grand entrance each wearing a splendid tank top. Not only that, but it was glasses of Pimms all around as well - Extremely amusing. Alex almost choked in merriment as the mood was set for the rest of the evening.
As most descended into alcoholism, KB retained a steady hand and cut Alex's hair, much to the delight of a few junior types who had never witnessed the ceremony before. Before long they had all been convinced that KB had in fact been a Toni & Guy stylist in his pre-flying life... Alex of cp19 who may as well be cp13 Alex's younger (twin if that's possible) brother added to the impersonations and produced a Alex Stephen stylie pink t-shirt and 'Mini Me' badge - hilarious.
Taxis were summoned and off we went into town, first stop had to be the legendary drinking hole that has become the local - Bank. Once again Rogers and Stephen with the help of some others who had seen the light, drank the place out of Pimms while predicting the music videos with instrumental precision, not that they are predictable you understand! The local dodgy blonde bird and her toothless friend were in attendance and as usual kept shouting, "ooooh cp13 I'm on your website". That's right love and we presume you haven't yet discovered it or you'd have seen the caption and would thus be less than friendly. The friend kept flashing her chest to Mark, who became scared and hid in the beer garden. Anyway, the feisty blonde one, whose name we ask every time but still can't remember, latched on to Rich Elvis (see pics...).
And so it became time to proceed to Outback. Shots and more shots and some gin and tonic. Most people by this time were not particularly compus mentis, which made it even more amusing. Ridiculous dancing, lots of goodbyes as people drifted off home (lightweights!) and more gin. The amount of gin consumed probably had something to do with the fact that a large number of people left Outback at throwing out time, only to go on to Firecats!
Firecats is the local strip club and we stumbled up the road to it. On the way Simon decided to climb a lamp post sideways, Mark fell (was pushed) over and did some sort of flashbacks of Nam commando roll, and we encountered some sort of mad bearded bloke (see pics). The women in Firecats were as rough as usual, and the clientele wasn't much better, however they were still serving beer which was good enough for most of us. Some sat next to the stage in a daze, presumably dreaming of a 1975 metallic brown Vauxhall Viva...
Memories get a little hazy here, but we know we got back to Peachgrove via McDonalds due to evidence found in the morning. There was also a girl in the car, but who she was and where she went we haven't a clue.
Bearing in mind we had to be up at 0730 and it was now 0600 and we were still blind drunk, there could be problems!
Mark stayed up and did packing before waking the rest at 0730. Alex had turned his alarm off and hadn't even started putting stuff into his suitcase! Five minutes later we were in a car heading for the airport wondering what we had forgotten to do, and whether Alex's broken suitcase, held together with tape and string would ever make it to London.
At Auckland Airport Mark, Alex and KB (who had flown up - posh buggers) waited outside for an hour to meet Jamie with our baggage, only to realise he was the other side of a large plant pot, five metres away, and had been there over an hour. Not that we were all out of it or anything...
Anyway, goodbye to NZ and everyone else there, cheers for the laughs and good luck from cp13 - nobody does it better!
Photos can be viewed here.
There is also a splendid account and numerous other amusing pictures courtesy of cp19 (the official fan club of cp13) which can be viewed here.
Splendid pictures. So, where are you off to now?!
Posted by: Wibbler | February 01, 2005 at 07:49 AM
Oh. Blighty.
Posted by: Wibbler | February 01, 2005 at 12:03 PM
Well done in the Module 2 exams boys! Alex, when you've got a moment, can you give me a call? I need some help with AC Electrics.
Posted by: John | March 24, 2005 at 01:58 PM