The past 2 weeks have been a mixture of solo and dual navigation flights to various locations around the North Island. I was lucky enough to fly North to Waiheke island and then through the controlled airspace past the famous Skytower in Auckland. The pictures from the journey there do not do it enough justice! Flying at 1,500ft above the city and then over Auckland International airport was just amazing. These flights are basically refining our visual navigation skills with arrival and departure of controlled aerodrome procedures which at times can get tricky. I am definitely more confident making radio calls now and there are no aerodromes that I get nervous of joining now.
Yesterdays flight was a good flight. I did a route which took me to Tauranga, Whakatane, Rotorua and back to Hamilton. I did touch and go's (touch the wheels on the runway and then take off again) at Tauranga and Rotorua. Tauranga is a pretty tricky aerodrome to get to because it is controlled and you have specified procedures for arrival and again for departure. The trick to a good arrival and departure is to make sure you brief yourself and fully understand what you are about to do. The extra challenge was that the wind was gusting 30Kts which it quite a lot in a small plane. The landing was perfect and I departed as planned. I then flew overhead Whakatane to intercept my next track to Rotorua. Rotorua is a big challenge too. The aerodrome is surrounded by mountains which adds the turbulent aspect. It is also a controlled aerodrome but does not have a specified arrival and departure procedure so they can ask you to arrive at different visual reporting points...some of which are hard to pronounce, I'm sure they have a laugh at us trying to pronounce some of the names. The trick to Rotorua is to be familiar with the surrounding visual reference points before you get there. The landing at Rotorua was going to be a challenge as when I was on the final approach the wind was directly across the runway at 20kts which is very high in a light aircraft. I have always loved the challenge of a crosswind landing and it went perfectly. I landed without flaps to make it easier as with flaps down, it makes it easier for the wind to push you off the centreline. Then it was back to Hamilton to finish with another crosswind landing which was well executed again. Lets hope I keep landing like that for my tests!
Travelling wise, I have only done 2 trips and that was climbing a mountain called Maungatautari. There is a track that goes from the North nature reserve to the South nature reserve but with 2 summits. It takes 5hours to go the whole length so we only did the a peak each time. On the first walk 3 of us went up the North side to be disappointed with the view at the summit. It was covered with trees! So I decided that I'd climb the summit tower and get a view from the top which was a bit better. The South track which was another challenging walk but it was rewarding with great views from the top.
Time here is going too fast, my departure date is zooming upon us and I wish I could stay here longer! It's definitely a place I will be visiting on a regular basis as I have barely seen any of the best bits and doubt I will get to see the best bits on this visit.
Until next time, you know the drill.......
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| From the top of the summit tower. |
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| Pan of the views from the N summit Maungatautari (979m) |
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| The night sky is quite spectacular, after playing with camera settings I have finally managed to picture it. |
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| Waiheke, probably one of the most beautiful places to fly over in NZ |
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| Waiheke again. |
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| Harbour bridge |
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| Almost level with the Skytower |
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| Mt Eden crater |
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| One Tree Hill |
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| Flying over the international terminal |
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| Rotorua |
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| Pan of from the Peak on the S track at Maungatautari |
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| Mokau on the way back from New Plymouth |
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| A lake next to Rotorua. |
