Classic Flights, Lake Wanaka, New Zealand

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INTERESTING STATS

Date: May 6th, 2010

INTERESTING STATS
Duration of trip:    09 April to 05 May 2010
Bad Weather days    11 – 10 days due to weather bomb in Otago (from 24th  Apr to 3rd May) –  1 day in Kaitaia
Flying days        14 days
Distance covered    3156 nautical miles
Equivalent to flying from Wanaka to Bundaberg (north of Brisbane) and back to Wanaka.
Hours flown        46.8
Fuel used        1310 litres
Oil used        36  litres
No. of times “Jerry” was filled    – 57
Most welcoming Aero Club        – Dargaville (you guys were awesome)
Best performing plane        – Tigermoth (great old girl – just 1 small
weld on exhaust pipe)
Aircraft requiring most pampering    – Jabiru (Australian – what do you expect!)
– 3 new tubes for tyres
– 12 new sparkplugs
– 1 new radio
–  jump started 3 times
due to being cold!
–  reluctant to start before 9am!
Best transport            – Southern Wings courtesy car, Invercargill
Best meal                – RSA Blenheim
Best Accommodation        – Jim & Denny’s 40 ft launches on the Waitemata Harbour
Best Steak & Kidney Pie!        – Te Anau bakery

A huge thank you to all the wonderful, generous people we met along the way who helped us with transport, hangarage, accommodation, meals and many, many flying yarns.
A special thanks to flying buddies Nick & Karen, and Jim & Denny.  The trip would not have been the same without their support, commitment, entertainment (!) and patience.

It has been the most amazing adventure that we will all never forget.

Last Day

Date: May 6th, 2010

Wednesday 05th May

Awoke to FOG!  This wasn’t part of the plan – however by about 9.30am it had started to show signs of lifting in parts, so we headed across Lake Manapouri to the Power Station at West Arm, through the Wilmot Pass and into Doubtful Sound.  We tracked along the Sound which was breathtaking, but very eerie.  The flight took us right out to the coast through Thomsons Sound where we were thrown around like a cork in a washing machine with a 40knot headwind and a ground speed of about 20 knots.  We seemed to crawl up the coast (a bit like the little red engine chugging to itself….”I know I can, I know I can…..”) but with over 50 nautical miles still to travel to Milford Sound and a fuel reserve of less than 2 hours remaining, it wasn’t hard to do the Math. We would not make it in this headwind and were going to run out of fuel before we got there.  So, with the weather deteriorating we diverted back into Charles Sound and wound our way through a maze of unforgiving mountains and cloud finally arriving at the South Arm of Lake Te Anau to a beautiful calm sunny day!!!  After landing in Manapouri and a refuel we proceeded inland for the first time of the trip and completed the last leg of the journey as we headed for home.  The flight took us through the Von Valley over Lake Wakatipu to Queenstown.  At this point ALJ seemed to pick up speed as she was back in her home turf, and we headed over the Cardrona saddle back to Wanaka.  The final leg of the journey saw us landing in Wanaka at 3.00pm having successfully travelled around the NZ.

Flying Again

Date: May 6th, 2010

Tuesday 04th May

Left Balclutha with a 20 knot stiff southerly on the nose.  Typical south coast weather!  Julie & I wrapped up in extra layers and headed down the Catlin Coastline for Bluff where we were joined by the others for this significant part of the journey – the bottom of the south.
Landing in a blustery Invercargill (where you would expect nothing else!) we were met with true southern hospitality from Brian at Southern Wings who lent us his car to take a trip into town to refuel ourselves and Jerry.

The next leg took us from Invercargill along the southern coast to the remotest part of New Zealand.  With very hazy conditions we felt incredibly isolated as we headed for Puysegur Point on the south western tip.  From here we headed over the southern end of the Fiordland National Park into Te Anau.  On arrival we enjoyed a beautiful sunset over Lake Manapouri for what promised to be a spectacular following day in Fiordland.

Weather's breaking

Date: May 1st, 2010

Weather is on the improve Wanaka was a real picture today as I was flying at 13000 feet “god we live in an awesome country” weather looking really good for the team to continue the trip on tuesday we are all looking forward to it

Weather's breaking

Date: May 1st, 2010

Weather is on the improve Wanaka was a real picture today as I was flying at 13000 feet “god we live in an awesome country” weather looking really good for the team to continue the trip on tuesday we are all looking forward to it