Sitting at the airport sipping hot chocolate was Amy McKay's and my, Sarah McLaughlin’s first step of our adventure to the International Youth Festival in New Zealand. With our warm jumpers and the scarf and mittens knitted by Kelly Raven (did you know Kelly was so talented?) we were set. As usual the worried parents did final checkups to make sure we had packed everything.

Gala Dress, enough clothes and Superhero costume. When they said super hero costume Amy’s face dropped and her blank look said it all. Mr McKay said he would go home and get it. About fifteen minutes later and a very anxious wait he was back, but wait - half the costume was not there. Five minutes until boarding and he raced off back home again. Boarding was being called and all passengers slowly moved towards the gate, we waited and waited and waited until we had to board. But as we turned to say our last goodbye Amy’s very tall brother Stephen could be seen through the crowd. He raced and gave her the rest of the costume and we boarded the plane.

We stopped over in Brisbane and  went straight to the gate our boarding pass said. We were sitting there for a while, when we saw the pilots and decided they were quite good looking. When it got closer to the time, Amy and I were the only ones at the gate we figured something was wrong. Then over the announcement speakers said Final boarding call all passengers flying to Sydney to gate 39 please. We jumped up and raced to the right gate – phew, we made it.

When we arrived in Sydney it was still morning. We picked up our baggage and were meant to be meeting the rest of the Australian contingent in Terminal 2 but where was that? After walking many circles we worked out we were in terminal 2. Two hours later when the rest of the contingent arrived we boarded a bus and headed out to Blaxland for the night. The afternoon was filled with Darren’s (SA SOC) awesome ice breaker games and a nice pizza dinner.

We woke at 4:30 am the next morning to board a coach to get to the international airport by 6:30 for check-in. Once aboard the plane the 15 of us felt the excitement set in. A small break down of us was 3 SA, 1 WA, 3 NT, 2 QLD, 4 NSW, 2 ACT, 1 VIC and 1 TAS.

We finally arrived at Christchurch airport and were welcomed by the Organisers, Singapore contingent and also the Cold Weather. We made the 30 minute bus ride to Lincoln University where we were staying for the week. When we arrived at Lincoln we were welcomed by an opening ceremony consisting of traditional Maori dancing, singing and scripture. Once all this was complete we went to our rooms and settled in. As it was getting closer to bed time the nerves for competitions the next day started to set in which may l say Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, competitions were being held on Australia Day!

To be continued ...

Sarah McLaughlin
Cadet Band Division

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