Well, that's it for the strip flying course.
What an awesome weekend! Did I mention that any other time?
Now for a couple of "administrative" things. With the weather the way it is this time of the year, we made the sensible suggestion to fly between Wellington and Blenheim on
Sounds Air. It turned out to be a great day both sides of Cooks Strait, but I reckon this was still the best way to go. It's quick, cheap [cheaper than I have seen on Air NZ], relaxing and meant we could have a beer at the end of the day :-) The pilots are friendly and the windows large.
I'd never been to Woodbourne aerodrome before. It's combined military/ civil and I was surprised how busy it was on a Sunday evening. Aside from "our" Cessna 208 Caravan [ZK-SAA, Sounds Air], there were two Eagle Airways/ Air NZ B1900's, an Air Nelson/ Air NZ DHC8-Q311 as well as a Fokker F27 Mk 500 Friendship, ZK-POH of Airwork Freight Operations. In the back you can also see an RNZAF C130H Hercules.
Would I recommend this? Yes! I'll probably do some more some time early next year [still summer in NZ for all your Northern Hemisphere types :-)], and I'd definitely recommend it, even if you just want a quick introduction to this type of flying. You can get the
MAC contact details here.
Anyway, a couple of photos from Woodbourne, plus a repeat of my landing at D'Urville Island... after all, that's what it was all about :-)
