On the way to Kaikoura

As mentioned in my last post, Nirav and I went down to Kaikoura yesterday. It was a beautiful day [and that's an understatement!] - just perfect to pop across Cook Strait and down the coast for a while. The only issue was the difficulty of getting reasonable photos while shooting towards the sun and through old aircraft perspex. Ahh well, such is life.

After landing at Kaikoura we popped into the Wings Over Whales office. The chaps in the office there are very friendly. If you are planning on doing a bit of whale watching in your aircraft, it's an extremely good idea to pop in and have a chat first. Wings Over Whales are very happy to give you a couple of pointers, and help to keep you out of trouble and to enjoy your flight ["Thanks guys!"].

One interesting fact for those that care about such things - we were in a PA38-112 [Piper Tomahawk] at MAUW [Max All Up Weight], and yet it still happily climbed at 1000'/minute. Anyway, here's some photos. Top to bottom are:

Outbound from Wellington. The island in the centre-left is Island Bay VRP [Visual Reporting Point]
Cape Campbell on the South Island. Just out of sight are the NDB aerial and airstrip.
Tapuae-O-Uenuku [the mountain with snow on it in the background]
Approaching Clarence River [the pointy-out bit]