 |
||
Twitter Updates
Saturday, February 13, 2010 Five Hours Before Singapore: The Exercise Phase Part 1 I know this is late and I've split the entry into different parts, but in order, so if you do not mind, I'm gonna take my time. I'm trying to recall as many things as possible, at the same time, try to be as discreet to the sensitive issues that might tie in when I was in New Zealand, especially in Waiouru. So do not mind me. The photos are not of high quality because I only had a 3.2MPX camera to work with, and half the time, I didn't really care. Plus I've not edited the photos, or some of them are not salvageable. If readers (related to any parties in writing) do have any issues with anything in this personal entry, please feel free to email me at dawickk@gmail.com. It was an honour to be able to be attached to 20SA Charlie Battery for Ex ThunderWarrior 2010 (ExTW), one of the few Artillery Warrior series of overseas firing exchange programmes. ExTW, as per usual, was held at the Waiouru Army Camp, New Zealand.  My flight to Auckland. SIA!! (Photocredits: Nick Tay) The waiting area, crowded by just us military personnel on the way to NZ. (Photocredits: Nick Tay)I glee-lessly (because I couldn't have time to convert my Glee episodes into iPod format) flew off on 20th Jan. It was a just a normal journey, no hiccups or anything. I've not flew on SQ for a long time, so it was a pleasant trip for me, what more New Zealand being a first for me.  Taken from the coach. Right behind this, is a busy international airport.Upon reaching Auckland, I was surprised to see fields surrounding the airport. The chilling wind was also welcoming to me because I really like colder climates. (1WO Chiok told me that it snowed when he was in NZ... Hmm... Hehehehe...) We were whisked up coaches almost immediately, I guess because it was going to be a long ride to Waiouru Training Area/Army Camp.. Waiouru is in the center of the north island of New Zealand, Auckland is up north. That meant that we'll be on a long roadtrip. We left Auckland International Airport at 8.30AM (NZ Time). You may want to keep a mental note about that. The roadtrip was quite a sight, with a lot of fields and the blue sky on the way out of Auckland. It's not like in Singapore where you see mainly buildings, and trees.  So on the way, we stopped by 2 pit stops, mainly tourist spots. I didn't take any photos because I was taking in all the fresh air. I bought a bottle of water, and it lasted me quite sometime. We went to Rotorua and had lunch at Kingsgate Rotorua. It was horrible, honestly speaking. (And Rotorua literally stinks. I'll go more into that when I talk about our R&R.) I guess the lack of photos of the food and place was evident of its suckiness.  Coach! Coach! (Photocredits: Ben Tan)So on, after a simple lunch, we went back to our coaches and continued our way to Waiouru, which was where the fun began. When we reached Waiouru, it was 4.30PM (NZ Time). Spending 8 hours on the road, with the view of vast fields, blue skies and whatnot we do not have in Singapore, we finally reached Waiouru Army Camp. After a short briefing session about the regulations in the camp premises and other stuff, we were sent up to our bunks. I was lucky to be in the bunk with randomly fun people, Yingjie and Teck Wee, and not forgetting the vehicle mechanic, Dzikri.  The view from my window. My I brought a few things to keep my free time productive, I should have taken another photo of my bed closer to the end of the exercise, because it became piled up with newspapers, snacks, books and power adapters, chargers, plugs. The bed is snug with a huge comforter (the maroon blanket thingy), 3 gray blankets, and 3 bedsheets. A nightlight provides illumination for night-time music reading. Oh yes, I brought my planner, and a few music books to plan for Acappuccino's music for the year also. Not bad a trip for me. Anyway, after a wonderful dinner (compared to Kingsgate Rotorua's lunch), we had free time, so I mingled around and got to know more than just my roommates and gunner, hopefully at least it'll make going outfield not that bad. Not long before we retired for the night, our night snacks came......  Holy!!! (Photocredits: Nick Tay)Our night snacks come with:
Oh right. It was supposed to be an incentive trip for being best battery during their India exercise phase. Go Charlie Battery!! I hope. Anyway, we were scheduled to visit the marae of the NZ Army. Basically, it's a piece of sacred land used for varying reasons. And it was there where we were welcomed! No big bang or anything, just speeches and prayers.  At the marae. (Photocredits: Ben Tan)And on our end, 21SA presented the cheesy army songs that were taught during BMT while 20SA (yay!!) presented a snippet of their NDP wushu performance. No comments, because I caught up with Jon Kee and Ding Jie. So fun! We had tea in the other building next to the marae.  The biscuits were nice! (Photocredits: Ben Tan)Anyway, it was an eye-opener. I only wish I could post more pictures, but I couldn't decide which ones are nicer. After the visit to the marae, we went back to start preparing for the outfield phase of the exercise, which will be in Part 2! Seeya! Photo credits: Most photos uncredited in caption are mine; and most of them were taken off FaceBook from my friend's albums. I thank you guys all for taking such fabulous photos and being such fun people. To those whom I might have missed out or miscredited (maybe because you passed your camera to someone else), forgive me and accept my thanks. 1 Comments:
wonderful experience! :) |
were here before you. Link Out acappuccino still in the midst of recovering links, please forgive me and tag me your links if you want me to place you HERE. thanks loads! 
|
|
|
||
