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Saturday 18 January 2014

More time off........

This week has been another containing no flying. At the start of the week, I spent the last few days with my family before they departed back to a tropical England. During those few days we made trips to Raglan, Tauranga, Mclaren Falls, played golf and climbed Mt. Maunganui (761ft). Here are just a few photos from those trips......


Mt. Maunganui
Mclaren Falls
Kite Flying
In terms of flying, I have been informed that I will be going on a night-flyaway on the 25th January to complete my 3 night flights in the Katana. We will be travelling to Whakatane airfield on the Saturday afternoon, flying till the early morning doing our 3 flights, then will be driving back to Hamilton later that morning for the next group to have their turn.

With regards to starting the next stage of flying (IFR) we have now been told to expect a starting date of 10th February, so I have now got another 3 weeks off......

Friday 10 January 2014

South Island

This week I have been busy travelling around the South Island visiting Queenstown, Christchurch and Mt. Cook at 12316 ft. 

On Sunday I said goodbye to my brother at Auckland airport, as me and my parents flew down for the most scenic approach into Queenstown airport. Queenstown is found on the shores of Lake Wakatipu which allowed me to experience a lake cruise and a 90kph jet-boat. It is also another location for lugeing with offers some of the best panoramic views. After leaving Queenstown on Wednesday morning, we travelled for around 5 hours by car to reach Franz Josef, a small township located at the base of glaciers and the mountains before Mt. Cook. The place itself is there mainly for helicopter tours and scenic flights which I myself was lucky to go on the next day. After flying up and down 2 glaciers and managing to go along the western-face of Mt. Cook the views were brilliant. After landing 40 minutes later, another 4-5 hour trip resulted in us arriving in Christchurch. Christchurch was hit by a devastating earthquake in 2011 and still 3 years later, it has hardly recovered. All but a few of the high-rise buildings are empty, buildings are still half-torn down and shipping containers have been used to create a temporary shopping area.

Just a few of the photos from the last week are below:


Approach into Queenstown
View of Queenstown from luging
Lake Wakatipu
Thundercreek Fall
Mt Cook & Mt Tasman
Helicopter ready to take us back down
Christchurch Shopping
Christchurch Cathedral - home to pigeons and a black cat
Our Air NZ ATR ready to take us back to Hamilton
My 10 days worth of leave finished yesterday and I have already been scheduled for 2 mass briefs today - both for night flying. I think the next 9-10 days should be still relaxing though as I have only 3 night flights to do in that time.

Saturday 4 January 2014

Travelling............

This week I have been making use of my time off, and I have been travelling around the North Island with my visiting family. Here are some of the pictures:


4 1/2 Hour Boat Trip Dolphin Watching On New Years Eve
Auckland On New Years Eve
NYE Fireworks
NYE Fireworks
NYE Fireworks
Opua - Bay Of Islands
Bay Of Islands
Bay Of Islands Cove
Gulf Harbour Golf Course - 11th Hole
Waiau Falls
Cathedral Cove
East Coast - Coromandel Peninsula
This week I am going to explore some of the South Island so more photos to come....
Sorry for the short post.