Xmas trip

Hi all, first off a belated Merry Xmas and Happy New Year! For the first post of 2007 I have decided to post the details of our Xmas trip around the South Island.

First off, let me introduce the cast of characters:

Left to right - Me, Rob, Martin

Our steed, Piper PA28-181 Archer ZK-FWS

Saturday, 23rd December

The story begins at a wet and windy Hamilton. With the type rating completed three days previously, there is little to do but wait for a

break in the weather...

By 2pm the weather has cleared sufficiently for our journey to begin. Routing via Lake Taupo (see below) and the Desert Road corridor we journey south to Dannivirke.

From Dannivirke we track to Masterton, here the weather begins to close in again and we decide to spend the night camping on the airfield. A freezing evening of no sleep follows!

Sunday, 24th December

With and unpleasant night of camping behind us, we load up and head on out over the Cook Straight. A very close watch is kept on the engine instruments as we leave the North Island behind and fly to Omaka, a small airfield near Blenheim.

Omaka is home to a museum owned by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson which contains a large collection of WWI era aeroplanes displayed in a variety of settings.

From Omaka, we follow the coast down to Christchurch, the Southern Alps rising up alongside us as we go.

As we reach Christchurch the weather turns less than pleasant and we decide to stay the night in a local backpackers hostel.

Monday, 25th December

Christmas day dawns with a dull overcast and poor weather forecast for our next destination, Queenstown. We decide to have a look around Christchurch and wait for the weather to improve.

The weather improves enough for us to have a go at flying to Mount Cook via Timaru. On reaching Timaru however the weather on the mountains does not look good and we decide to turn around and track up the coast.

Passing Christchurch, we run into what we believe to be localised low cloud, but this turns out to be a more widespread effect, and we are forced down to 500' along the coastline. At this point an urgent diversion to Rangiora is called for.

Once of the ground at Rangiora, we are able to obtain some food and weather info, thanks to a local couple named Michelle and Danny (cheers, guys!) and obtain shelter in the form of the local microlight club HQ. Happy in our xmas accomodation we settle down to celebrate.

Tuesday 26th December

Boxing day starts of with some unusual cloud formations overhead. We load up and leave Rangiora behind, following the coast back up to Omaka.

From Omaka, we cross the straight once more, tracking overhead Masterton to land at Dannevirke. After a brief stop to plan and chat to the locals we depart headed to sunny Napier.

Napier is a town that was destroyed in the thirties by an earthquake, rebuilt and consequently retains its art deco styling. We spend the evening in a number of local bars and by the quayside.

Wednesday 27th December

The final day of our trip sees us facing a short leg past Taupo to Hamilton. Unfortunately the weather intervenes and we are forced to divert to Tokoroa, where we wait for three hours until the weather lifts sufficiently for us to make it to the Tron.

All in all, even though we failed to make it to Queenstown, our trip was highly enjoyable. The scenery on the South Island was breathtaking and the hospitality of the locals was second to none. What a great way to spend xmas!