March 15, 2011 The End

Ides of March; Pacific Rim

Getting a day to live over again might be a good thing and we got to do it on the Ides of March. Our result was a lot better than Julius Caesar’s.

We see on the news here in LA that the drug stores are selling out of potassium iodide, the pill to prevent cancer from radioactive contamination. There is concern that a radioactive cloud could be released into the atmosphere from the damaged reactors in Japan and then travel thousands of miles to the West Coast. We missed the earthquake in Christchurch, the tsunami in Westport and it looks like we’ll miss the contamination here in LA. Living on the Pacific Rim isn’t for sissies.

Dragon Boating, Sheep Busting and Lesson Learned?

On the Fourth of July, 2009, I went to my first rodeo in Interior, SD, population 67. One of the remarkable competitions I observed was sheep busting. 5-year old children were placed on sheep, and then the gate was opened, the sheep was slapped on the butt and the sheep took off with the child gamely hanging on. Many fell off in the first few seconds and a few last 8-10 seconds. All of the children, but one, wore no protective clothing of any kind. That one wore a helmet. Why? Because he might have hit his head or fallen off and gotten kicked in the head, I suppose. But what was that child being taught?

And when the children in New Zealand go out dragon boating every day, rain or shine, no matter the wind, what is that teaching them?

Now back in the US, I think of our children and grandchildren and wonder what we are teaching them when we require that they wear helmets when they ride a bicycle, or when they go skiing, and wear lifejackets when they go sailing, and wear all sorts of protective gear when they go skateboarding, and we take away diving boards from swimming pools, require that fences be put up around swimming pools, require car seats for children, helmets for motorcycle riders (in most states), when we build swimming pools with the “deep” end being 5’ deep. Whatever the cause (lawsuits, insurance requirements, safety, protecting the lives of our children), I believe that all of this is teaching our children and grandchildren to fear life, or in the words of the plaque in Wellington, to fear the verb. We made it through without all of this, why can’t our kids?

While some of our children here (but not the sheep busters) are being taught fear and an expectation that an active life will lead to injury or death, it appeared to me that the children of NZ are being taught courage and that their society expects them to live an active life free from unreasonable fear.

If personal injury lawsuits are the problem, should they be abolished as they appear to be in NZ? On the other hand, will that lead to our cherished big corporations running roughshod over the consumer in the name of earnings for its shareholders, something it is pretty good at now even with the threat of personal injury lawsuits? Or should limited liability for corporations and other entities be abolished? Lots of things to think about.

Things I will remember

Sky Needle; Sugar at the helm in an American Cup boat showing the Kiwis how to sail in a big wind; liquefaction; Mayor Bob Parker and Christchurch earthquake; beer battered blue cod; Queenstown; “You’ve gotta change your attitude, mate”; paragliding; $94 fill up; learning to be old; landing attitude and trim to best glide speed; grass strips, uphill/downhill; Geordie Hill Station; foot rot; sheep dog; Matt and Jo’s “white truck” [Lexus SUV]; tenure review; golf at Jack’s Point; ridge flying; saddles; ag planes and strips; flying through rain showers and snow showers; dawn at the station, hills clothed in overnight snow; cruise climb; soft field takeoffs and landings; jet boat; flying a Gypsy Moth; Staggerwing and Bill; Mt. Aspiring, the Matterhorn of the Southern Alps; beach landing at Big Bay; Sydney Beach; Milford Sound; Sutherland Falls; Lake Quill; Mount Cook and Harper Saddle; glaciers; earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and tsunami warning in NZ; Queen Charlotte Drive; Picton and Marlborough Sound; dragon boating “rain or shine”; Matt and Jo; Megan; and Sue, our fishing and hunting guiding, field hockey coaching, and flight instructing co-pilot who took such good care of us and taught me the thrills of flying in the mountains.

Good night to everyone who kept up with us. Your messages were always welcome and made us feel closer to home. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Love, Dad, Nat, Matt and DB

March 14, 2011 Wellington

Dragon Boating

“It’s true you can’t live here by chance. You have to do and be, not simply watch or even describe. This is the city of action, the world headquarters of the verb.”

So read an inscription on a granite walk on the overhead walkway to the shore from the Civic Square in Wellington. And how true it is. As we walked toward the shore, we noticed high school age girls with paddles (similar to canoe paddles but squared off at the end and a little shorter), wearing shorts and what appear to be rowing shirts. Since it was howling again today, with a steady wind of at least 25 knots and fierce gusts over 35 knots (so strong that it would knock you backward), we thought they’d never get near the ocean today. Wrong. We came up to an inlet in the wharf where the Boat Club is located, a place to launch dragon boats, long, narrow wooden boats that have the shape of a rowing shell, manned by 20 oarsmen or oarswomen, a coxswain seated in the bow shouting the cadence and the coach in the stern standing and steering with a long oar. From this inlet they would pass under a foot bridge into the maelstrom of the harbor, into the whitecaps and gusts of wind, cold waves hitting their low freeboard vessel and spraying them. The safety boats were inflatable dinghies with outboards on them. I told a girl who was dressed for the sport that I didn’t think they would be going anywhere near the water in conditions like this. “Oh yes. We go out every die [day], rine [rain] or shine.” They practice every day and then have their competitive races on Sundays.

Something Sue said leads me to understand that their school year is divided into sections of several weeks duration. And I think this section is dedicated to sport, where much of the day is spent in training for, and competing in, a sport. In this case, about 200 kids were on the wharf waiting for their turn in the dragon boats. Some looked like they were still in grade school. Again, you wouldn’t see this at home. We take our hats off to them. You’ve got to love this country.

We walked miles today and that was our “doing.” Tomorrow we fly to Auckland, and then cross the Pacific landing in LA at 10 in the morning of the 15th, the same day we left Auckland at 6 PM. Say what?

Good night, Nat, Dad, Matt, DB, your simple describer

March 13, 2011 Picton to Wellington

Picton; Movie Star Jo and her poor American cousins; Hippopotamus

Picton is a small town, with yachts in its basin, hotels crowding its shoreline, a park with flower beds adjacent to the paved walks right on the shore in the middle of the town shoreline. I was up at 7, just before sunrise, and the clouds had creeped into the upper portions of the town, but were soon to burn off. We actually opened up the main street by helping a cafe carry its tables and chairs outside where we sat and had breakfast. By the time we were finished, had returned to our hotel to check out and came back around 10, all the stores were open so we did some more shopping. Sugar has to make up for the time lost when we spent 9 days flying. We dropped off the rental car at noon, got our boarding passes, dropped off our luggage, and after a short wait in the waiting area, boarded the ferry for Wellington. Just as we were getting ready to depart, a plane swooped down over the town and landed on the water beside us - I got four pictures of it coming down. It’s another beautiful day, and the departure through this part of Marlborough Sound is unique and beautiful, being a passage between high hills on each side and continuing for 30-40 miles.

As we were baking in the full sun and gale force winds on the top deck of the Interislander Ferry proceeding from Picton on the South Island to Wellington on the North Island, Sugar with her down coat on and me with my Patagonia turtleneck sweater zipped up to the neck and baggy dungarees, this lady wearing a flowered print dress, dark unbuttoned Cardigan sweater with sleeves pulled up halfway up her forearm, necklace, dangling earrings, Mary Jane flat shoes, big dark glasses, with naturally dark curly hair, strolled by with her head erect and headed for the stern. Sugar turned to me who was half-asleep, “Wasn’t that Jo?” I looked up and saw this lady walking away from me. When she reached the stern, and turned around, I waved. She didn’t react, perhaps wondering why this old man with his hair standing straight up and his face beet red from two hours baking in the sun was waving at her. She started back and Sugar and I walked toward her - then she recognized us, or probably Sugar who is hard to miss with her cast in a white sling. Instead of running away, she came up and gave us both a hug. She explained that they had started their vacation yesterday, driving from Geordie Hill to Blenheim after leaving at 4 AM, and that Matt was down in the First Class lounge - she had stepped out just to get a breath of fresh air. She led us down to Level 7 so we could see Matt too - while Matt came out and was talking with us, Jo was talking to the staff and pleading for them to let us in the lounge too, all to no avail, especially after looking at us. Jo had good news about Heather - she had come in third in the Wanaka horsejumping competition, and had been complimented by an older woman who won the all-around medal for the show. We had a short talk and then we went back to being hoi polloi, and they went back to being a movie star and her agent. Actually Matt looked a lot less stressed than he had looked when he was lying on his back all day examining each kicking foot of 4500 upset sheep.

You can tell Sugar was helping me with the description of Jo. So now we add Movie Star Jo to our collection of Master Chef Jo, Pilot Jo, Nurse Jo, and Farmer Jo.

We entered Wellington Harbor, a large harbor surrounded by hills on its western side where Wellington is located. The downtown is full of modern high rise buildings, flanked on each side by homes climbing up the hillsides, one on top of the other. Kumar (some things remain the same) of Super Shuttle grabbed our bags and drove us to the Museum Hotel, which has a Hippopotamus on the roof of the entry and two classic motorcycles in the Lobby. I swear to God I did not know this - Sugar doesn’t believe me. This small hotel, across the street from the waterfront, reminds me of the funky Hudson Hotel in NYC, but the rooms are much bigger here in this hotel, although small by other standards. Contrasted with the motorcycles is a boxed glass display of a pistol, a bullet heading away from the pistol and suspended in midair, and then a skull. Then, another contrasting exhibit is a painting of a nude lifesize woman, from the backside, on the wall. A little something for everybody apparently.

It’s been another good day for us, and not just because of the weather and the high 70’s temps. Tomorrow we’ll check out Wellington, where South Islanders go when they want to go on vacation.

Love to all, Nat, Dad, Matt, DB

PS The pictures are of lawn bowling, Marlborough Sound from Queen Charlotte Drive, Sugar in Picton, and the seaplane descending over Picton for landing.

March 11-12, 2011 Motueka and Picton

March 11, 2011

Thriving Business in CHCH; Tsunami Warning for NZ; Bad Luck

We left Jackie and Charlie behind at Archer House in Westport, and headed northwest toward Motueka, a town near Abel Tasman National Park where Matt had suggested that we visit. The distance there is only about 250 km but the roads are very winding, with speed limits between 100 kph on the straight portions to 35 kph at the sharpest turns. Driving in the mountains, with no guardrails and very sharp curves, is wearing. Add in single lane bridges, single lane road in one portion, road construction and mowing the bushes on the steep rockwalls next to a curve in the road, and you’re relieved when you see you have only 11 kms to go. Having gassed up and picked up a newspaper, drinks and sandwich in Murchison (the only town of consequence on our route), Sugar read some of the paper to me. One of the stories was how prostitution was thriving in Christchurch, due to the influx of foreign search and rescue workers, policemen, etc. According to one prostitute, she was having the most prosperous time of her career, earning an average of $700 per night, and $1400 on her best night. She continued, “If they need that release, with all the pressure they are under, then I guess it’s okay.” Two of the men wanted their picture taken with her while they wore their Australian police uniforms, apparently for their buddies back home.

As I write this, we are watching the TV and are learning of the magnitude 8.9 earthquake in Japan two hours ago. New Zealand and most of the Pacific have been put under a tsunami warning. And of course, we are staying in lowlying country next to the ocean. Sugar wants to go back to Geordie Hill Station where there is no risk of such things and there is no news from TV. I guess this is our welcome back to the real world, a world of tragedy and suffering for so many. If a tsunami hits here, a NZ rep just said it may be another 4-6 hours - in other words in the middle of the night. This fear reminds me of the following: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” When I was a little boy, I kneeled at my bedside and said that prayer every night before I went to bed. And continuing “God bless Nanny, Gammy, Mommy, Daddy...” and so on down to the cats and the dogs. And God bless the Japanese and all those suffering at this time.

“Bad luck,” according to Matt, is what happens in life to people, and no matter how or why it happens, it does not give the injured party the right to sue the party causing the injury in NZ. The Govt will care for the injured party and will prosecute the guilty party, if a crime has been committed, but there is no private remedy. So if an accident occurs, as it did with Sugar, the National Healthcare System will care for the injured party but he or she would have no right to sue the fishing trip operator, for example. It’s just “bad luck.” Obviously, I pushed back pretty hard on that point but there was no give with Matt and Jo. This philosophy is widespread, I think, in NZ and helps to explain the ubiquity of bungy jumping, skydiving, parasailing and other intense physically risky activities, and their attitude of self-independence. One might argue that this system permits a guilty party to evade full responsibility for his acts. And on the other hand, maybe the system works here as it is with Madoff and his victims, with the government having imprisoned him and the government also seeking to recover assets to pay back to those innocently injured by his fraudulent acts. This is what is great about getting away from home. You always get a fresh look at your life in comparison with how others live.

We had a short trip to Kaiteriteri, the “most beautiful beach in New Zealand,” where we had a beer at the Beached Whale Restaurant, and then returned to town for supper at Simply Indian Restaurant. Now, with Sugar switching back and forth between American Idol and CNN, I’m signing off. Good night.

Love, Nat, Dad, Matt, DB



March 12, 2011

Mapua, Pelorus and Queen Charlotte; Miscellany

We survived the night so that’s a relief and it looks like NZ will be spared another disaster, at least at this time. We left our host, Stephen, at White Lodge B & B, another very fine accommodation and the only room at his B & B. His wife is away in Great Britain so he cut $10 off the price as he didn’t think his cooking would be as good as his wife’s. The room is in a separate building and fronts on the backyard flower and vegetable gardens.

We joined Route 6, then took a left to Mapua where, we had been told, there were nice shops next to the wharf (so Bay, I am giving Sugar an opportunity to shop - 15 minutes is more than enough time here). The tide was out - their tide is about 8’, similar to home, and there were a few boats in the small harbor.
We continued on through Richmond, Nelson, Port Nelson, all towns on the coast and looking back we could see the mountains in Abel Tasman National Park, and of course the mountains that were hoving over these towns and through which we would eventually have to get through on our trip today. Shortly, we turned east and up into the mountains and the serpentine road appeared again, back and forth, up and down, over and over again. The drivers here are courteous, pulling over when able to let cars past who have piled up behind them. After 20-30 minutes or so, we entered the beautiful Rai Valley with its farms and flatlands surrounded by the mountains. We stopped at Pelorus Bridge, where there are a cafe, toilets and short walk to the river. We took advantage of all three. It is very warm, probably in the high 70’s, but the walk in the heavily shaded forest was refreshing. And the Totara tree is enormous rising to almost 100 feet high. Back to the serpentine road which led us to Havelock, a small town of 400 and a beautiful town on the ocean with a 50-mile sound, one of many Marlborough Sounds. We stopped to see Chris and Philippa, two people we had met last Friday night at pizza. Chris was shocked to see Sugar and wanted to know how she had been injured. He was gracious. Philippa was out so we didn’t get to see her, but did get to meet Olive and Morrison, two doodles, one black and one golden, and neither as cute as Maggie.

Right outside Havelock, we turned left onto Queen Charlotte Drive, a spectacular 1-hour ride along the bluffs above some of the Marlborough Sounds which are surrounded by forested mountains descending into the sea. It is more beautiful than the Pacific Coast Highway, Sargent Drive, the road along the French Riviera on the way to Monte Carlo - you rise to 1000 feet above sea level, drop down to sea level, and then you do the same all over again. And you better pay attention to your driving for again there are no guard rails to keep you from going over the side if you go off the road. At the end of the drive is Picton, a small town nestled between steep mountainsides and the ocean sound. We take the ferry from here tomorrow, a 3-hour trip to Wellington where we will stay until Tuesday. Hopefully, our room there will have better Internet access and I can go back to sending a few pictures.

I made our reservations on the Interislander Ferry today as I was worried that, with the tsunami warning of today, many people may have put off their plan to take the ferry today and instead take it tomorrow. However, I was able to get the tickets ($55 apiece without the car which we drop off here tomorrow).

The following are several things Sugar and I have noticed about New Zealand:
1. Money system - their unit of money is the dollar, worth about 80 cents; the bills are different colored; the lowest denomination bill is the $5 bill; the silver colored coins are worth less than the copper colored coins; they have a $2 coin.
2. There is no tipping! That’s hard to get used to.
3. Serviettes are napkins!
4. I filled up the car with 1/4 tank left and it cost $94 at about $2.20/liter.
5. When you sit down at a restaurant, the server brings you a large bottle of cold water and glasses, no ice.
6. The towels are situated on racks that heat the towels.
7. They have “roundabouts” rather than stoplights.
8. You can drink in public unless you are in an alcohol ban area (usually the downtown area).
9. There are voracious “midgies” (like no-see-ums at home) at the beaches if there is no wind.
10. Roads are excellent but narrow.
11. The roads are long and winding.
12. The speed limit in rural areas is 100 kph.
13. You can get an excellent room at a B & B for $160 NZ.
14. Flat white, long black are two types of coffee.
15. Waitresses are paid minimum wage.
16. Breakfast cost is very high.
17. Risky behavior is the norm.
18. A “sealed” runway is a paved runway.
19. “Give Way” = Yield sign.
20. NZ is “Down Under” and consider themselves as such.
21. Deceased vets are “Glorious Dead” as opposed to KIA.
22. Wifi is limited.
23. Land tenure review - Govt pays all the expenses for such review, appraisals, surveys, etc.

That’s enough for now. Good night to all. Back to the North Island tomorrow.

Love, Nat, Dad, Matt, DB, etc.

Sorry = No pictures due to slow Internet.

March 10, 2011 Greymouth to Westport

Maggie’s; Pancakes and Thunder Hole; Foulwind; Archer House; Northern Exposure

Of course, our day began at Maggie’s (guess why we chose that place), a small diner where we ate breakfast. It felt like we had gone 50 years back in time, listening to music such as “Old Flames Can’t Hold a Candle to You.” I’m not kidding. And every once in awhile they’d throw in a “new” song like “Landslide” by the Dixie Chicks which must be at least 10 years old. And we even met Maggie who brought out our breakfast. But the prices weren’t the prices of 50 years ago, my poached eggs on white toast, Sugar’s cereal with canned peaches and yogurt, two orange juices, and two short whites (coffees) costing $33. Food here is really expensive. But we just had a really good ribeye dinner, the lite version no less, and the meals with a beer and a coffee cost $63, the equivalent in US $ being about $50.

En route on Route 6 from Greymouth, we stopped at Paparoa National Park at Punakaiki, home of the pancake rocks and blowholes. We walked out the path to the pancakes which are quite amazing, rocks layered one on top of another and weathered to look like piles of pancakes. The blowholes are large thunder holes but, due to the tide and lack of large waves rolling in, we only heard one “huuuunh” to remind us of our own Thunder Hole.

Our next stop was an hour or more later, at Cape Foulwind, just west of Westport, our destination. There is a walk there to the lighthouse and out to the end of the cape. The sun is out, there is the sweetest smell coming from all the yellow flowers of the ubiquitous bushes we have been calling “gorse,” with small green leaves and inch long thorns. There were so many of these bushes beside the uphill trail to the lighthouse. And we’re not too jittery after our seal experience - I leaned over to smell the flowers and a small bird in the bush startled me, and also Sugar who was approaching to smell the flowers too. We skipped the seal colony lookout. As you can imagine, we’ve had more than our share of seals.

We drove into Westport and followed the “i” signs which signify the office for tourist information where they help you to make room reservations, suggest restaurants, things to do, etc. Not many places had rooms left since there will be horse racing (trotters) in town tomorrow and Saturday, but our clerk suggested we take a look at Archer House. We drove over and fell in love with the place, its 20-foot high ceilings, funky art, its different color rooms (we’re in the Red Room), several sitting rooms, and sunny porch where we ate our lunch that we had bought at the grocery store. And as we were finishing lunch at 3:30 or so, Jackie asked us if we wanted tea or coffee and offered us freshly baked ginger muffins and blueberry muffins. They were delicious with our coffees. Check out the place online. It has quite a story. There are 3 guest rooms and we have the house all to ourselves at night.

As we were driving north from Greymouth on the winding Route 6, the sun was in my eyes and I puzzled at that. Of course, it would be since we are south of the location of the sun which is just south of the equator now. So my blog of yesterday may be wrong about the location of various sides of Mount Cook. As we first approached it, we were approaching the side in shade which would be the southern side, and when we went around to the side where the shelf is for the helicopter to drop off summiteers, that would have been the northern side. Okay, that is better.

So I’ll sign off now while roughing it at Archer House.

Love, Nat, Dad, Matt, DB

March 9, 2011 Mount Cook

Goodbyes; The Knifepoint; Circles over Mount Cook Snowfields; Gentle, Kind Mount Cook; Christchurch and More Goodbyes; Prince William

Having finished packing, we walked up to Jo and Matt’s for one last time. I listened to the sheep baaing and the cows mooing in the distance, the birds chirping in the trees overhead, and felt at peace. Jo was finishing a full setting of scones for the entire enlarged farm crew today as they were going to finish the last 1000 sheep with exams for foot rot and 4 different shots. Due to my request last night, Jo brought out the Flyinn clothing consisting of a merino golfstyle shirt and a vest. We each got the shirt. Matt and I finished our accounting and then it was time to go, with hugs all around. And a last goodbye to Nugget, the 11-year old yellow lab, and a look out at the adjacent pasture with Delta, McGyver and Cookie, their horses, our screen savers for the past 9 days - 9 days of no radio or television and not much news. Life does go on without them.

Sue helped load the plane and we taxied to the grass runway for one last takeoff, fully loaded and with full fuel, destined for the highest point in NZ, Mount Cook. The skies were blue, with a few midlevel clouds over some of the peaks. We banked right to the north after takeoff, doing a cruise climb up Ahurin River valley, then over to the Dobson River valley as the mountains got higher and higher and snow appeared on the summits. Mount Cook, with its distinctive knife edge top, was in plain sight the entire time during the climb up to 9500’. We turned to the west just south of Mt. Selton (10,338’) and then headed directly to Mount Cook (12,316’). As we approached its west face, a knife point of thin rock wall protruded up from the mountain about 100’ in front of the mountain and since our altitude was about equal to the middle of the point, we could not see what was behind the point. Sue said we would fly past the point turning left around it. But I couldn’t see around it at all, and thus could not tell if the point would curve around to the main summit wall. If it did, or even part way, we would not have room to pass through, let alone turn around. To my nervous questioning about what was behind the knife point, Sue assured me that we would just fly over a saddle behind the point and come out over the glacier to our left. So, with a little of me holding my breath and trusting Sue with our lives (again), I flew on in little WAX and turned left behind the knife point and, with the left wing appearing to brush the back side of the knife point wall and the right wing along the west face of the summit wall, we popped over the saddle Sue said would be there to the wide open spaces of the glacier. A big PHEW! We did some 360’s over the snowfield where a helicopter had landed and people were cross-country skiing. Looking out, we felt we were at the top of the world. We headed for Katie’s Col and then turned to the east and then south flying along the eastern slopes of Mt. Tasman (11,473’) toward Mount Cook again. Sue wanted us to fly over the shelf at about 9200; where the helicopter lands on Mount Cook to drop off those who want to summit the mountain. She kept telling me to go “closer, closer” and “closer, closer” again as we headed right for the middle of the summit, but 2,700’ below it. We reached the shelf and Sue pointed out a glacier that folded in to the north that the climbers followed to the summit, very difficult and technical climbing. In the meantime, as I listened to Sue describe the complexity of the climb, I’m looking at a snow covered rock wall that I’m hurtling toward at 105 knots. After we flew over the helicopter landing site, I didn’t wait for her to tell me to turn away to the west. I just did it with my heart pounding in my ears, and it’s still pounding just writing about it. And there was nary a bounce on either side of the summit, a very unusual day, and very fortunate for us. The beauty of the area is astounding. Have I told you that before?

With last looks at Franz Joseph Glacier, we followed Tasman Glacier downward and turned east to be eventually dropped off at Christchurch Airport. We flew through miles and miles of more mountains, heading for the flatlands around Christchurch - what a contrast, from the numerous high sharp peaks to the green farm country on the flatlands leading us to Christchurch. We landed at an airport that was not that busy and taxied to the General Aviation area where we unpacked and headed for Budget Rental Car. We said goodbye to Sue with tears in all our eyes - she brought so much love and caring to us, and taught me a lot about piloting a small aircraft in the mountains.

We got in our Ford Falcon (really, but a new one) and headed west on Route 73 for Arthur’s Pass and continuing all the way across the South Island to Greymouth on the shore of the Pacific. Sugar asked me if I was nervous about driving here after not having driven for 9 days. After what we had just gone through in the past two days, I didn’t think that driving a car would make me nervous. And I learned on the radio on the way that Prince William may be visiting Greymouth in the next day or two or three in conjunction with his attendance in Christchurch at a memorial service to those who died in the earthquake. We are spending the night here at Greymouth but intend to head north along the coast tomorrow morning. God Save the Queen.

Goodnight, with no planned alarm clock or wakeup call for tomorrow. Sleep tight.

Love, Nat, Dad, Matt,DB

PS Picture is of Mount Tasman in right foreground and Mount Cook in left background - headed for helicopter landing shelf.

March 8, 2011 Milford Sound

Glacier Flying; Sand Beach Landing; Milford Sound Landing; “The World Is Your Oyster;” Manapouri; Home for the Last Time

With Matt and Jo working starting at 7 AM checking the feet of 4500 sheep for foot rot, and giving each shots, Sue arrived at our cottage at 8 AM for our briefing of what we would be doing today. Sugar, despite not having a lot of sleep due to her cast, was all ready to go and so was I. This is our big day - the day we go to Milford Sound, one of the most famous fiords in the world.

We departed over the Eastern Hills again, avoiding an ag plane doing spraying on the ridge line, landing on a strip on the ridge, reloading and taking off again to continue spraying on the ridge and along the sides of the ridge. We flew over Wanaka and entered the Matukituki Gorge in a cruise climb up to 6,500 feet. We turned left entering the West Branch, passing Mt. Rob Roy and glacier with the summit at 8675 feet, Bonar Glacier, past the Pope’s Nose (8856’) to the beautiful Mt, Aspiring (9951’), the Matterhorn of New Zealand, and circled around it to get some pictures. We crossed over the Matukituki Saddle (4915’) , past Mt. Ionia (7434”) to the Olivine Ice Plateau, a shelf of snow and ice at about 7500’. We headed north and then turned west to drop down to the Pacific Ocean and Big Bay.

We descended all the way to 500’ where Sue took the plane and we flew over the beach explaining how we would land at the very northern end of the beach. One plane had already landed. Sue entered a left downwind at 500’, put in 10 degrees of flaps, then turned base just before plowing into the hill of Awarua Point, lining up for final just to the left of the black sandy area, just touching down with full flaps and immediately going to full power to take off, turning the plane over to me. The purpose was to put down some tire tracks of where she wanted me to touch down. I climbed to 500’ feet and basically mimicked what she had done, touching down right at the beginning of the black sand, but staying on the ground. We taxied out of the way of anyone else who might be flying in but were sure to stay in the wet, hardpacked sand and pebbles. We all got out of the plane, and walked around beachcombing and taking a few pictures. The sea smelled nice to us and it was still cool with an offshore breeze from the east.

We took off, climbed along the southern ridge of Big Bay up to 1000’ and followed the coast south several miles to the entry to Milford Sound, and what a spectacular entry it is, bordered by huge mountains and ridges on each side, a true fiord. The mountains were between 5500 and 7400’ and Sugar and I were awed as I flew up the right hand (southwest) side of the Sound. There was a plane just ahead of us, tourist boats beneath us, and a cruise liner just of the end of runway 11 that we would be using. Our guide last week, Megan, was in the tower handling traffic and with her critiquing me, Sue saying that “a pilot of my experience should have no trouble with this landing”, the pressure was building. But in this instance, I brought it in fine and was able to taxi off to the general aviation parking about 1/2 of the way down the runway without any problem. What a thrill. But there were certainly more to come. We stopped in to say hello to Megan and Sue kidded her about her (Sue) getting the good conditions whereas Megan flew with me on the day we cut short (and I played golf) due to strong wind conditions. The winds were light and variable at Milford Sound.

We grabbed a sandwich for lunch, took a 20 minute walk around the shoreline, said our final goodbye to Megan, and returned to the plane. We took off on runway 29 toward the water, climbed to 1000 feet and then headed southwest into the mountains up the Arthur River Gorge, cruise climbing up to about 4500’ feet until we reached ABW (“another bloody waterfall” to the Kiwis), this one Sutherland Falls and 1800’ high, Sue took the plane, put in 20 degrees of flaps and slowed it to 70 knots, telling me to fly over Lake Quill from which the Falls comes. The lake is in a perfectly circular canyon and the lake itself is circular. The sides of the canyon are high vertical rock faces dwarfing our altitude and Sue assured me that I could fly around in the tiny canyon at slow flight without steep turns. First I crossed the saddle into the canyon, followed the righthand rockface and did a circle to the left at 70 knots with no more than 20 degrees of bank and coming back out and then, at Sue’s suggestion, returning to the canyon and circling from left to right so Sugar would get a better view. This canyon is ridiculously TINY but Sue was right. Now that flying got the adrenaline flowing big time! At one time I turned to Sue and said, “So when I hear the end of the wing scraping the wall, then maybe I should move away a bit?” “Yeh, something like that.”

From Lake Quill, we turned to the west, then south looking out to our right (west) to see Sutherland Sound, then Bligh Sound, turning southeast along Wild Natives River Gorge and then winding our way around the mountains to Mt Irene (6100’) and Coronation Peak (5804’). This is still Fiordland - it is the perfect playground for pilots on a day like today that was getting sunnier and sunnier the more it wore on. As we flew over passes and went up ridges, I would ask Sue which side to be on, or suggest a side, and her reply was “Today, the world is your oyster.” No wind to speak of, no clouds, no other traffic south of Milford Sound - I could do whatever I wanted. We descended to 3500’ to cross Wilmot Pass into the Lake Manapouri region, a large lake just south of Lake Te Anau. We landed on runway 8 at Manapouri Airport, and had a wonderful view of the lakeside and the mountains on the other (western) side. The east side of the lake is all flat valley, and it is beautiful with its green farmland, windbreak trees here and there and the two lakeside towns of Manapouri and Te Anau. Sue refueled the plane, and we all had a snack and glass of water.

Refreshed but feeling that we needed a relatively short day after yesterday, we flew back to Geordie Hill for one last landing here on this grass strip. I was emotional when I shut the plane down here for the last time. Now that I’m beginning to know what to do, it’s time to leave. Tomorrow, we fly to Mount Cook, the highest mountain in NZ, and then to Christchurch to be dropped off so we can pick up our rental car. It’s time to pack and get organized. Hopefully we’ll be able to keep in touch once we are on the road.
Sugar did very well today - no codeine, just Panadol and is very good about trying to keep her arm elevated. She’s a good patient.
We have dinner with Matt and Jo tonight. They will be exhausted - they have been working with their whole crew, plus some extras they’ve hired, since daybreak.
Good night, love, Nat, Dad, Matt, DB

March 6-7, 2011

Croydon; Tiger Moth; Crosswind Nightmare

Sue, Sugar and I took off from Geordie Hill Station for our overnight at Stewart Island, heading southeast toward Mandeville, home of Croydon Aircraft Company Ltd, world famous restorer of aircraft, restorer of Bill’s Staggerwing, and maker of Tiger Moths, the former training biplane for NZ air force pilots. We landed on the grass strip in Mandeville, taxied by the house of Colin Smith and his wife, and parked WAX next to Croydon. We entered the workshop, met Mrs. Smith (on a Sunday no less) and she welcomed us and invited us to tour the plant with Sue. This is aircraft craftmanship at its finest, and with a crew of 7, there were numerous planes in various stages of renovation or construction. We also went into a separate workshop where the wings were manufactured, the cloth covering was glued on, and other parts were manufactured from the original plans. Then we crossed the yard to the museum where there were fully restored planes, including two Tiger Moths.
Sue had asked Mrs. Smith if I could be taken in a ride in a Tiger Moth, and that Matt had called Ryan, the 27-year old Tiger Moth aerobatic champion and an employee at Croydon, and left a message on his cell phone asking if he would take me for a flight. Mrs. Smith explained that he would be in by 1, she thought, so we went and had lunch at the restaurant next door with its decor of moths in the wallpaper. And who should walk in as we finished lunch? Bill who had come down to get his currency flights in a Dragonfly, another old plane. We chatted for awhile until Bill pointed out that Ryan had arrived so we went over to see if he would take me flying. After telling us how busy he was, he consented and said it would take about 30 minutes to drag it out of the hangar and to preflight it. And it did. In order to bring it out of the hangar, he opened the doors, lifted the tail over his head and just walked ii out onto the bright green lawn where he did his preflight. Then he beckoned me over to the plane, instructed me on how to get in (and he wanted me in the pilot seat in back), described all the instruments to me, put my flght hat with headset and goggles on, and after pulling the propeller through several times, got the plane started. The plane has no brakes so it was chocked, and after Ryan entered the front cockpit, Bill pulled the chocks so we could taxi out to the runway, making S-turns on the way. We brought her into the wind, with a slight crosswind to the left, did the runup, and then lined up for takeoff. And I was flying, of course doing what he told me.
It seemed like we took off in 100 feet although I’m sure it was longer than that. Once we got up to 1500 feet he took the plane, climbed higher, and then demonstrated stalls, first with the plane balanced (there was hardly a break at all) and then with his feet off the rudders his hands off the stick, and over she went to the left, making a steep dive. He quickly recovered, explaining that even with the plane unbalanced, it was very gentle and you can’t get in much trouble with it, at least in light winds. He then proceeded to do a series of aerobatic maneuvers, a loop, a roll, wingovers and a hammerhead turn (my first), and then said that he would do a three-point landing and then talk me through one as well. The flight path is similar to the 172 - airspeed of 70 knots and just keep bringing the nose up to keep her off the ground. I did fine on that one but not on the wheel landing where I flared too high, and Ryan executed a go-around. He then demonstrated the wheel landing and then I did one, much better than the first one, primarily because I could see out of my goggles which previously had slipped up my forehead and limited my lower vision. It’s a wonderful airplane, fun to fly, open cockpit, tailwheel plane - everyone should have one.
With many thanks to Ryan and another round of goodbyes to Bill, we took off from Steward Island at 1500 feet. Due to lowering ceilings and showers, I descended to 1000 feet as we crossed the coastline, and then down to 800 feet as we proceeded the 30 miles to Stewart Island, dodging rain showers and low ceilings. When we got to the island, I had to climb to reach traffic pattern altitude (1300 feet). I had been told that Stewart Island always had a murderous crosswind, but today the winds were 240 degrees at 12 knots, almost right down runway 22, so no problem whatsoever. We tied WAX down, put the cowling and windows covers on her and got a ride to our hotel, the Southern Seas Hotel. We rested for a bit and then joined Sue for a nice fish (blue cod) dinner. For us, we went to bed fairly early, 9:30 or a little later, with visions of Tiger Moths dancing in my head.

Love, Nat, Dad, Matt, DB, etc.


March 7, 2011

Fishing expedition, Attack of the Seal, Kew Hospital, Catlins

We were up early and at breakfast at 7:45 in order to be ready for our fishing trip with Matt at 8:30. We went out to the wharf at the appointed hour and met Matt, the 30ish skipper, and Travis and Terry, our two other guests. We cruised out to an islnd several miles offshore, and he taught us how to fish, running the line to the bottom, reeling in just a bit, and then jerking the pole as soon as we felt a bite. After several tries, I brought in a large fish which was inedible and several blue cod that were too small. After Sugar landed a nice sized blue cod, I told Matt that I would be eating Corn Flakes for supper - we were supposed to be catching fish for Jo to cook for our supper tonight. Finally, I caught a keeper as well and we then headed for and landed at an island that is a bird sanctuary and Matt sent us on this 1-hour slow walk through the island.
After climbing the highest spot on the island, we descended to Sydney Bay, a beautiful sand beach. After swinging on the swings (all but Sugar), we were approached by a seal who swam straight toward us, came out of the water and then posed for us, first lying on his side, half in,half out, and then rising up to his full height on this flippers, lying down again. So the four of us approached him, and took pictures of each couple about 5’ away. The seal didn’t mind and this went on for 3-4 minutes. When it was our turn to have our picture taken, unfortunately, the seal charged us and in our haste to “run away, run away,” Sugar fell and put out her right hand to break her fall. “Break” is the right word - she broke her wrist. After a 30 minute walk back to the boat and a short trip to a wharf where we could meet Alena, Matt’s partner, she drove us to see Marty, the nurse. He immediately diagnosed a break, made a half cast and wrapped it to immobilize it and directed that we must immediately take her to the hospital in Invercargill. Marty explained that there would be no charge for his services and he thrust the paperwork into Sugar’s sling. Sue had joined us at the nurse’s office in Stewart and made the arrangements to return to the airport, and we flew in WAX to the Invercargill Airport over the water in more rain showers and there we met a representative of Executive Auto, who had been called ahead of time to take us to the hospital.
In the Emergency Room,after a wait of 2 hours, Sugar was taken into the unit and then X-rayed. Marty’s diagnosis was correct. That’s the bad news. The good news is that Roy, a doctor from Texas, said that since the break did not dislocate the bone more than 15 degrees, they would not be operating. Liane, a kind young lady, put a cast on her wrist, gave her extra padding and another sling, and sent us on our way, but not until Roy showed us the break on the X-ray. It was exceeding painful, and again, as Sugar has demonstrated throughout this trip, Sugar showed her courage, climbing back into the backseat of the plane for the return flight.
We took off, climbed to 1000 feet and then crossed a portion of the Catlins to the beautiful shoreline of sand beaches broken up by rocky headlands. After an abbreviated tour, we turned northwest, climbing to 4500 feet, through Thompson Gorge, descending through the Lillis Valley and headed through the pass to home, not arriving until about 6:40 PM. Jo cooked up our fish, and we also had venison that Nevil had shot - the dinner was delicious. It’s been a long day. Sugar is resting with a dose of codeine, and it’s time for me to go to bed for our early departure for the flight through Fiordland and Milford Sound tomorrow.
Good night and say a little prayer that Sugar will feel a little better tomorrow.
Love, Nat, Dad, Matt and DB
PS There was no charge to us for any of the medical services, only the filling of the prescription which cost $24.
PPS Once again, I’m too tired to proofread this.

March 5, 2011

Dingleburn, Minaret, Minaret Burn, Matuktuki Valley, Shotover Saddle, Flood Burn, Stair Peak Saddle, Rees Valley and Glenorchy; Jet Boat; and Return Trip

Sue is to be our guide today and we were going to the jet boat at Glenorchy after checking out a few fields on the way. We took off straight out and crossed the Eastern Hills at 3500 feet. We turned right, to the north, and flew along the east side of Lake Hawea to check out a field east of the Neck, the point of land where Lakes Wanaka and Hawea almost meet. As we descended and flew over the field, it looked like a landing to the north would be into whatever slight wind there was. I turned left around a large hill adjacent to the runway, flew south along the lake, turned base leg and then final over an island, over a small lagoon, over a fence at the end of the runway and in a rain shower. We landed fine and parked the plane to take a picture or two, and lo and behold, to harvest 7 or 8 large mushrooms. This was Dingleburn, a private grass strip, where you can spend the night in a cottage there as a guest of the owner.
We reboarded WAX and headed across the lake to the Neck and flew over Mou Waho, a small island in a lake with a lake that has an island. We then checked the conditions over Minaret, a series of two grass strips on the west side of Lake Wanaka, both oriented north-south, the southern one headed north was uphill, and then you had the northern one headed north was downhill. So we entered right traffic over the lake, landed on the southern runway, taxied north to the northern runway, and took off going downhill.
We climbed out and then turned west up the Minaret Burn leading into the really high (7,000-10,000 feet high) mountain country, finally leveling off at 6,500 feet and doing ridge flying at all times enroute. The weather conditions were intermittent sunshine and a shower here and there that we could see. Due to weather, we turned south into the Matuktuki River valley, crossed it and then over Shotover Saddle into the Shotover River Valley. During this portion of our flight, snowcapped mountains were all around us, and still ridge flying, there were times when the wing of the plane might have come within 30-40 feet of the mountainside, and we also passed through a light snow shower (temp was 32 degrees up there). We proceeded southerly and then turned west at Flood Burn and while setting up to cross Stair Peak Saddle, we approached it with our right wing very close to the cliff face of the mountain beside us following the contour of the mountain so that we could approach the saddle at an angle. In that way, if there was a downdraft, we could turn away, circle and climb and try again. But we made it and with a sigh of relief we descended into Rees Valley and then up Lake Wakatipu for a short distance to the grass strip at Glenorchy. The Dart River Jet Boat people sent over a bus for us and brought us back to town. It was the most thrilling flying that I have ever done and I never thought that I would be flying in such conditions and in such a spectacular location. What you can do when it isn’t blowing 40 knots at 3000 feet....
At the Cafe, we enjoyed an enjoyable lunch (we all had BLATs) and then proceeded to the Jet Boat office to get our gear (long black raincoat and life jacket), boarded a bus to the small harbor and boarded our jet boat. When this boat developed overheating problems after 5 minutes of travel up the Dart River, we turned around and got another boat. There were 12 of us in the boat, plus Shayle, the male driver. Since the boat was traveling about 40 mph and it was a coolish, though sunny, day, the ride was cold. It was nice that the handrails to hold onto in front of each seat were warm (like the piping they hang their towels on in the bathroom to keep them warm). We stopped in several locations to take pictures and did a 360 degree turn before each stop. We were worried about Sugar’s inner ear sensitivity, but Sue had reassured her that if she was able to take the bumps on the way over, she would be able to handle these turns - and she had no problem whatsoever. The river is very shallow, although running hard due to the recent rains, but the jet boat is designed to operate in 3” of water. It was an exciting ride but nothing like we had just been on.
We traveled 40 km up the Dart, then turned back 10 km where we disembarked and the ones who had taken the bus up took our places. Our driver was very good telling us about the rain forest we were walking through - it was everything a rain forest is not, in other words, the humidity at ground level is 10-15%, the surface is relatively hard and dry. This is because of the beech trees which suck up all the moisture (20 feet of rain per year). We rode back in the bus, stopping on one occasion to view the sites where movies have been made, and also many foreign advertisements, one for German chocolate claiming the scene as the Swiss Alps, another scene being the mountains on the Coors beer can which supposedly are in Colorado, another scene being portrayed as K2 in the movie about a climbing accident on K2, and others. As the driver said, we didn’t know we were going all around the world on the ride out.
The flight home was uneventful, except for the rain shower we flew through, seeing Shania Twain’s huge house, and landing at a grass strip at Geordie Hill. And we just finished another spectacular dinner cooked by Jo with everything homegrown, including the lamb chops. She’s amazing.
Off with Sue to Stewart Island tomorrow for two days so you probably won’t hear from us until Monday. Have a good weekend.
Love, Nat, Dad, Matt, DB

March 4, 2011 Day Off

Day Off
Matt called after we got back here last night and said we would have a day off today due to a poor weather forecast. It rained in the night and morning broke with a full overcast. We took our time getting up and at 10 headed for the barn where the crew was supposed to be working with the sheep. On the way there, we walked through the paddock for the horses, and Sugar was followed all the way by a new friend, Cookie, Heather’s horse, who never was more than 6” away from Sugar. I think he (yes, Cookie is a boy) thought that Sugar’s iPhone, which is superglued to Sugar’s left hand, was food for a horse. He was disappointed when we left the paddock and closed the gate on him.

Foot Rot
The crew, consisting of Matt, Heather, Laurel, Kim and Nevil, were examining the feet of 1000 sheep to see if they had foot rot. Due to the moisture on the floor of the valley, the sheep are susceptible to this virus. If they get this highly infectious disease, it eats into their hooves. Rather than treat them, they will be separated from the rest of the herd and then sent to the meatpacking company for slaughter. So this was the process.
The sheep that hadn’t been checked yet were in a pen outside the barn. Nevil’s dogs, jumping back and forth over the fence of the pen, would guide them to a chute where they proceeded in single file toward the barn. Kim would make sure that they would continue toward the barn where they would meet Lauren who made sure each one got on a conveyor that was shaped like a V with about 10” open at the bottom of the V for the legs and feet to fit through. The conveyor would take them over a 6’ x 4’ pit in which Matt was lying down with a large flashlight - he grabbed each foot as it was going by and would check it for rot. If the sheep had rot, he would tell Heather and she would spray its forehead with paint. When each lamb reached the end of the conveyor, they entered another chute which led to a pen. For the marked lambs, Heather would pull a gate across the chute where the healthy lambs went and the sheep with the foot rot would enter a different pen. Heather was also the one operating the conveyor, shutting it down when Matt told her too, oftentimes because one of the smaller sheep had fallen through the V and was kicking him and crawling over him. Her hands were full so I operated the gate for the condemned sheep, opening it when a sheep with foot rot came out of the conveyor and closing it when the healthy ones came out. Of 1000 sheep checked, about 50 were struck with the virus and would be immediately shipped to the meatpacker for lamb chops. The others would have their feet dipped to prevent them from getting foot rot.
It is quite a scene: Nevil yelling at his dogs and giving them commands and the dogs launching themselves back and forth over the 4’ fence of the first pen; then the 3 attractive 20-years olds in shorts, with sweatshirts, baseball hats for Kim and Heather, first Kim holding a shepherd’s rod poking and prodding the sheep toward the conveyor, Lauren making sure, by lifting them onto it, if necessary, that the sheep actually got on the conveyor, and Heather running the conveyor, spraypainting the foreheads of the diseased ones, operating the gate until I got there, and all the while, Matt flat on his back in coveralls with plastic safety glasses on, all mud spattered on his face, glasses, coveralls and baseball hat, checking each foot with his flashlight by grabbing it with one hand and shining his light on it with the other. They had started at 7:30 in the morning and finished at about 11:30 with a 30 minute coffee break at about 9:30. 1000 sheep - that’s 4000 feet to check and a lot of dirty work for all concerned.

Merino
Many of the sheep are Merino sheep, and in the old days, according to Matt, only royalty could own a Merino sheep for their fleece was used to make cloth to clothe the members of the royal families. It was the first breed of sheep to be introduced into NZ, by Capt. James Cook in 1773. They are farmed on the tussock land of the South Island where they thrive on the rugged terrain and the harsh climate. Their fleece is very dense, and is very fine and soft. It is known throughout the world as the softest fleece for sweaters and other garments. Other of Matt’s sheep are a mix of Merino and non-Merino sheep. It takes about 1 year for them to regrow their fleece after they have been sheared and the annual cost of shearing Matt’s sheep is about $50,000-$60,000 per year. But the quantity of fleece shorn can bring in up to $450,000 in a year.

Farm Tour
After a couple pictures of the crew, Matt asked Nevil if he would take us on a tour of the farm while he did several jobs, switching several herds of sheep and cattle from the pastures presently occupied to new pastures. Nevil agreed. Matt then told us to go to the garage, get the “white truck” and take it down to the shed where the boat was and Nevil would take us for the tour. We returned to the garage, and the “white truck” turned out to be a swanky Lexus SUV - so off we went to get Nevil who drove us out to the outer pastures. He released his dog Page, a young one, and away he tore rounding up the sheep and directing them to a gate where they would pass into another pasture - going left when Nevil whistled in a certain way, and right when he whistled in another way. It was amazing to watch as it took this dog about 5 minutes to have several hundred sheep going through the open gate to the adjacent pasture.
We then moved on to the pasture with the cattle - Matt has about 150 of them and they are all raised for their beef. Slaughtering time was approaching for many of them so that they would not have to carry them (i.e. feed them) through the winter. They have grown their own feed but don’t have enough for all the cows. Nevil explained that the ranch is self-sufficient - they don’t have to buy feed to sustain the sheep or the cows. None are used for milk. Nevil turned on the water in the water trough in the new pasture - it works exactly like a toilet bowl with the rubber flotation ball at the end of the arm which, when it gets to a certain height of the water, shuts off the source of the water. When the water level in the trough went down to a certain level, the ball would drop and the water supply would come back on, and so on. Nevil told us that the black cattle were Angus; the brown cattle with white faces were Hereford; the reddish cattle were “stabilized cattle,” whatever that means, since I didn’t understand Nevil’s explanation and he is not a man to whom you ask the same question twice; and the black cattle with white faces were a cross between the Angus and Herefords.
Page went to work again herding the cattle to the open gate into the new adjacent pasture, and made quick work of it. Once the cattle entered the new pasture,they all ran to the water trough because, according to Nevil, they mistakenly believe that the water in this water trough will be fresher than the water in the trough in the old pasture. Nevil also explained that cattle and sheep complement each other in how they eat the grass. The cows eat the longer grass, leaving an inch or two of grass, whereas the sheep will only eat the shorter grass, leaving the longer grass. Another benefit of the cows entering an irrigated pasture first is that the worms that will sicken lambs don’t like the moisture and will climb up the taller stalks of grass to get away, and so the cows eat them and they do not get sick from them. By the time the cows have been there awhile, the worms will be gone, making it safer for the sheep.

Shrek
After our farm tour, Jo made several suggestions for the rest of our day, namely to take the white truck and drive down to Tarras for lunch and then continue down Lake Dunstan to Cromwell where we could browse the shops and then eat dinner at Feast, a popular local restaurant. We did all of this plus drive to Bannockburn, a vineyard area of Otago District, and to Clyde where the dam is located that created Lake Dunstan. We also learned about Shrek, a Merino lamb (“New Zealand’s most famous lamb”) who evaded capture at Bendigo Station for 6 years. When they finally captured him, he was sheared on national TV, and his fleece was auctioned off to benefit charity. HIs fleece weighed over 60 pounds and was purportedly enough to make 20 men’s suits.

Oh, by the way, the clouds parted and it was a beautiful day, but the wind came up and was as strong as it has been the past two days. We will try again tomorrow to go to Glenorchy for the jet boat ride.

Love to all and especially to our Maggie who is having her first birthday, Dad, Nat, Matt, DB and Master

March 3, 2011

Wanaka

With a “fair bit of wind” forecast, Matt suggested that we fly to the fighter pilot museum in Wanaka, then fly on to Glenorchy for lunch and go on the Jet Boat. We met our co-pilot of the day, named Megan, and off we went to the plane. Once again the winds were strong and gusty but the sun was out and it was a partly cloudy, but cold, day. Megan suggested we take off downhill, again a crosswind with a small tailwind component, circle in the valley to get up to 3,500 feet to go through the pass to Lindes River Valley and then around to the north to Wanaka. So we were off, climbing through the gusty conditions and riding the leeward ridge to gain more lift. We went through the pass into the Lindes Valley and, crossing a ridge line, cut the corner toward Wanaka, on a long final for runway 29. With the gusty conditions, Megan suggested we stay high and keep the final flap setting of 30 degrees for short final. We landed on the paved runway and taxied in to leave TRS and to pick up Whiskey Alpha Xray (WAX) in which we would continue on after visiting the museum. Megan led us to the museum which, unfortunately, had closed 2 days earlier for 6 months. Megan sweettalked the lady into allowing us in (having risked our lives to get there), so we had the run of the place for 30-45 minutes. It was well stocked with period memorabilia, especially WWII. The part I liked the best were the stories of all NZ aces, i.e. those who have shot down five or more enemy aircraft.

Megan

We took off from Wanaka headed for Queenstown, up Lake Wakatipu to Glenorchy for the jet boat ride up the river Dart. The wind was howling as we climbed up to 5,000 feet and headed west then south over Crown Saddle and then turned west to overfly Queenstown Airport. It was a bumpy ride and got even bumpier as we flew out over Lake Wakatipu. When we finally made the turn to the north, the weather over Glenorchy did not look good, with lowering clouds and imminent rain. We decided, much to Sugar’s relief, that we would turn back and land in Queenstown. After holding to the east for a landing Boeing, we joined a long final for the grass runway that is perpendicular to the paved runway. The winds were very light until we came out of the wind shadow of the hill to our left, when we picked up about a 15 knot crosswind. I wrestled the plane to the ground and we tied her down in the general aviation area on the grass.

To make a long story shorter, we went out to Jack’s Point so that we could have lunch and I could play 9 holes of golf. During lunch, Megan, a 35ish, attractive blond, told us that she knew Maine having stayed in Camden summers working on a private yacht. She also worked for Larry Ellison on his 150 foot boat that had a crew of 14 and had made several Pacific crossings, and had also been on this yacht during the America’s Cup. Since a woman’s place on his boat appeared to be belowdecks cleaning up, she eventually tired of that and quit after 10 months. She landed a job on an 80-footer and cruised between Camden and the Caribbean. Finally, she and her partner got their own 70-footer and offered crewed charters. She is a very businesslike, no-nonsense, not going to pat you on the back unless you really deserve it type of person. She grew up on a farm but is allergic to all the hay, etc., rides a motorcycle but doesn’t have a license, skis, bikes, and oh, in addition to being a pilot and flight instructor, having flown Tiger Moths for 2 summers, she is an air traffic controller by profession. Her home base is Queenstown although every several weeks she goes to Milford Sound to handle the air traffic there.

Jack’s Point

Sugar and I grabbed a cart, I loaded up with 6 golf balls, rented some clubs, and headed out on Jack’s Point Golf Course, a beautiful course with the Remarkables mountain range on one side and Lake Wakatipu on the other. The course had no trees and resembled a very windy and hilly field. And of course, the first five holes are into the wind and uphill, so it was a struggle. We finally reached a downhill hole, a par 3, the green sitting on a shelf before a huge decline into the lake, and with the wind howling into my face, I chose a club that was four clubs more than what I would need for a 150 yard downhill shot. As soon as I hit it, I knew it was perfect, that is, until I felt the wind completely die and saw the ball soar well over the green and out of sight. I finished the nine holes with two - two balls out of the six I had left the clubhouse with. Sugar and I enjoyed the spectacular scenery if not spectacular golf.

Return to Geordie Hill

We took the Victoria Bridge departure straight out of Queenstown as we had flown with Peter on our first day. So the mountains looked familiar but the conditions were far different from Tuesday’s. We flew up the valley as it narrowed and turned left into the gorge coming out into the Lindis River valley, still getting thrown around, and trying to descend to see if it would be less turbulent at a lower altitude. Megan pointed out the gorge to pass through the mountains to Geordie Hill Station, and we flew through at 2500 feet. Once through, I flew to the far side of the valley to avoid the downdrafts and to scope out the field to see which runway was favored. Again it appeared to be the uphill runway with a crosswind from the left. Flying a right downwind and a right base, I turned onto final with 20 degrees of flaps and crabbed toward the runway, all the while descending, with power on and then off dependng upon the puffs, crossing the cow pasture with the cows right beneath me, over the two fences and touching down with left wing lowered and quite a bit of right rudder. It was a tough day and it was nice to end the flying part of it on a good note.

And I can’t say enough about Sugar and her courage sitting in the back seat getting thrown around - so much so that she has several bruises to show for it. It’s much easier sitting where I’m sitting since I have some control over the plane. And Megan also exclaimed how nice it was to travel with a passenger who was so calm and cool. And Megan doesn’t hand out praise easily so I’m sure she meant it.

With a lousy weather forecast tomorrow, we won’t be flying but Matt suggested that we learn more about the ranching if we wish. So we can sleep in, and wander over to see what they are doing when we are ready.

Good night to you all. Belated Happy Birthday to Will who we will hopefully see in less than 2 weeks. Happy Birthday to Linda, and happy birthday to our girl, Maggie, on the 4th.

Love, Dad, Nat, DB, Matt, etc.

March 2, 2011 Dunedin

The Storm; A Girl named Sue; Ridge Flying; The Waterspout; Christchurch Embassy; The Long Flight Home


When we left the main house last night after a delicious lamb chop dinner, with a strawberry shortcake (but not shortcake) type dessert, it was with the understanding that a storm was forecast to blow through the area today and accordingly they would let us sleep in. And we were awoke to the alarm at 6:50, although we had patchy blue skies, the trees and bushes were all swaying back and forth in the heavy winds. We ate our breakfast and then met with Matt who had planned that we would fly to Dunedin today, weather permitting. He printed out the forecast for us and although the winds were strong at the time, they were forecast to diminish through the day.

Just as we were about to go get in the car to run the 400 yards to the runway to await our guide, Sue’s arrival, she appeared breathless, exclaiming that that was about the worse conditions she had ever flown in at Geordie Hill, and perhaps we “could take a bit of coffee.” She asked me for my mountain flying experience, and I said I had little to none, at least none when it was blowing like this. She said then we should definitely have a bit of coffee to talk over what we would do. We spread out around the kitchen table and Jo made us coffee and gave us the fresh scones right out of the oven. Lauren, James, Kim (another part-time helper and another teenager) soon joined us as we discussed what we would do. We were warned that it would be bumpy and if it was too bad, we would just turn back. If we were able to get up to 7000 feet or so, it would be a quick trip because the forecast speed of the westerly winds at that altitude was 60 knots.

Sue is a 43 year old pilot who has been flying in the mountains for 27 years. She is thin, about 5’6” with brown curly hair, and looks like the field hockey coach that she is. She is very good at talking things through. So as we fastened our seatbelts, she explained that the runway was too soaked to use due to irrigation problems, and that we would use the grass surface to the right of runway. It would be a direct crosswind takeoff in heavy wind, with a slight tailwind component. With 10 degrees of flaps, I powered up, let go of the brakes and started down the field with hard right aileron to counteract the right crosswind, and drawing back slightly on the yoke to keep the nosewheel just barely touching the ground. We were off and immediately into a crab heading down the runway fighting for a bit of climb. Once we had our climb airspeed of 73 knots, and a 100 feet beneath us, I raised the flaps and we turned left to the ridgeline.

Sue asked me to just follow the ridge line on the leeward side of the valley so that we could climb faster. As the wind blew across the valley and struck the ridges on the leeward side of the valley, it would need to go up to go over the ridge, and we would go up with it. Sue kept me close to the ridge and we were getting climbs of 500 feet per minute (fpm), then at times 1000 fpm and at one time 1500 fpm. Once we had flown that ridge, she directed me to the next ridge, and then the next . In that manner, we were able to climb in no time to 7,500 feet and we turned easterly over the Rock and Pillar Range toward first, MacRae’s gold mine, a huge hole in the ground from which they are extracting gold, and then turning southeasterly toward Dunedin (pronounced Dun Eden). Crossing the coast line of beautiful, vacant sand beaches (the water temp is about 53 degrees), we passed over the whitecapped bay at 3500 feet and over the leeward side of the wonderful protected harbor with high hills on each side of the harbor, and passing a Royal Albatross refuge at the entrance where the lighthouse is.

As we flew along the ridge line of the hills on the east side of the harbor, we heard a report of another pilot that there was a waterspout near Brighton, further down the shore. Another worried pilot in the vicinity asked how high it was and received the reply, “300 feet but I’ll make sure it’s gone by the time you get here.” Typical NZ humor - “Don’t worry mate.” We flew over the city of 100,000 headed for the grass field at Taieri where our guide was to pick us up. We picked up the weather, agreed that runway 29 would be the appropriate runway, and in a strong wind (28 knots with higher gusts) set up for downwind, base and final to land with a lefthand crosswind. We taxied in and met our guide, Liz, who would be driving us around the city. First we had to tie the plane down with spikes hammered into the ground with a sledge hammer that had a loose head, consequently falling off every 4th whack, and then tying down the tail and each side of the wings.

Dunedin is home to thousands of students and Liz took us to several beautiful universities, including Otago University. That is its main purpose now, although it had been a very rich city in the 19th century due to the discovery of gold in the 1860’s. Everything had to pass through this port, both the supplies for the gold miners and then the gold itself from the mines. We visited Baldwin’s Gut Buster, the steepest road in the world, taking pictures of it from the bottom and from the top where we observed people hiking up the hill - one huffing and puffing girl said it took he 3 minutes and 20 seconds. And then an elderly man came jogging up. Are they crazy? From there Liz took us to the Dunedin Botanic Garden where she dropped Sue, Sugar and me off. The Garden also has an aviary where we saw some birds, some of which were brightly colored and some of which were more African birds. Bay could tell you all about them. :-) Sugar and I went to lunch while Sue and Liz went off to run some errands, meeting us back at the Railroad Station built in 1904.

While we were waiting, we walked to the far end and saw the sign “Christchurch Embassy.” We entered and were immediately and kindly escorted out of the room. The gentleman explained that this “embassy” was manned by volunteers who had been trained to assist those coming in from Christchurch, to find their kids a school, to find lodging and generally to provide a resource for the refugees - just another example of Kiwis taking care of Kiwis.

We returned to the Taieri airport, such as it is, and picked up the weather on the ATIS, winds 18 gusting to 29. A little better. We took off on runway 23 and turned to the west fearing that the forecast headwind would really slow us down. And it did at times, from the normal 105 knots back to the low of 52 knots. But then there were other times when we could make 80 knots. We climbed up to 7000 feet, just under the broken cloud layer, and avoiding spot showers to the left and to the right, this time crossing the southern end of Rock and Pillar Range, across the valley to Rough Range, then across an even broader valley to the Dunstan Mountains which we crossed at Thompson Gorge turning right into the Lindis River valley, through one more gorge and popping out the other side at Geordie Hill Station. We landed in the windy and gusty conditions and bade farewell to Sue who said she would see us later in the week. Tomorrow we will have Megan flying with us if we fly because, once again, poor weather is forecast.

We had another wonderful dinner with a swelling population at the main house. Jo and Matt’s daughter Heather returned home today with her horse to join James, Lauren and houseguest, Bill Charney, who is a retired United pilot and is flying a Beech staggerwing around the world.

Another late night so I’ll call it quits for now.

Love, Nat, Dad, Matt and DB

PS The picture is of Tango Romeo Sierra, our plane tied down at Taieri Airport. Note the windsock.

March 1, 2011 Geordie HIll Station

The Learning Continues

We were told to meet Peter, a flight instructor, at the Q Airport, near the cafe at 9 AM. A check of the weather last night was not promising, with an approaching low pressure area and forecasts of rain and heavy winds. But so far so good this morning - no rain and light winds. We dropped off the car, and dragged our enormous bags through the terminal to the cafe with the floor to ceiling windows looking out on the runway. I migrated to the bar, which appeared to be unoccupied. I watched for a C172 but there was no traffic until finally an Air New Zealand commercial flight landed. We struck up a conversation with the bartender, Arthur, who had come here from Brazil to spend two weeks, and has now spent two months. He received a work visa and will be staying through the winter. He is living in a house in Queenstown with two others, and the view of the lake is great, all for only $150 per week. And being 20-25ish, he just loves Queenstown because it changes everyday with new people coming in, and others leaving.

I saw Tango Romeo Sierra taxi in and 10 minutes later, a man approached me and asked if I was Nat. This was Peter. He is married to a second wife (nothing wrong with that), and combined they have six children between the ages of 16 and 21. We went out to the plane and miraculously our bags (especially my behemoth) fit in the plane. As I started to walk to the righthand side of the plane, Peter said, “Nat, you get in here. You’re flying the plane.” So there’s no waiting around to get started.

We took off on Runway 29 using the Victoria Bridge departure, a departure that heads into a narrow mountain valley and makes a left hand turn following a river up the valley. Peter handled the radio and I flew the plane, following Peter’s instructions on how high to climb and where to go. He said we would check out a few strips on the way to Wanaka and from there we’d take a spin around the lake and then proceed to Geordie Hill Station, the sheep ranch of our hosts.

Peter directed me to a ridge and pointed out a short grass strip next to a curve in a dirt road. We flew over it at slow speed with 20 degrees of fllaps to check out its condition and to determine if it was level. It was not and Peter said we would land uphill. So we flew a circuit again, entering downhill, then base and lining up on final with full flap and carb heat off for short final. We kept the power on right to the ground and even on the ground as I eased it back and taxied to the end of the runway and just before the hill side that dropped off 100 feet or so. I turned the plane around, headed downhill, kept the brakes on, 10 degrees of flaps. gave it full power, let up off the brakes and didn’t pull back on the yoke for fear that we would be dragging out tail since we were going downhill. We lifted off in plenty of time before we went off that side of the hill, lowered the nose to gain airspeed and took out the flaps. We continued on to land at two more grass strips, on the tops of hills or on farmers’ fields, each time checking out the field and then landing uphill and taking off downhill. Peter then said we would fly over to Wanaka, his hometown, to look at the sights.

We flew past the Wanaka airport, over the town and then around this beautiful lake, Wanaka Lake, another one nestled in the mountains, with several hilly islands with no foliage whatsoever. Peter seemed to be evaluating how I would handle flying close to ridges of the mountains as he would ask me to follow the contour of a mountainside or ridge. We cut across Lake Wanaka, the 4th largest lake in NZ (Lake Wikatipu being the third largest), then past the southern end of Lake Hawea, another large lake, and then southeast over one last ridge to the valley of Geordie Hill Station. Again, Peter pointed out the location of the grass strip, we descended to about 500 feet above the elevation of the runway and again checked it out and discussed how to fly the approach. So we turned base just before reaching a small ridgeline, then final and with power landed and taxied through the grass and a few puddles.

Geordie Hill Station

Jo met us at the end of the runway with her Lexus station wagon, and after introductions and dropping our bags off in our separate cottage (a real one, not a NEH cottage), invited us to the main house for scones and tea. This sheep ranch has 7000 sheep, of which 4500 are ewes. Matt was away buying ra.ms to mate with the ewes, returning after awhile with 7 rams, each of whom will service 70 ewes. Eat your heart out, guys. The ranch is 5500 acres. According to Jo, that is not a large ranch as the one next to theirs contains 10,000 acres. We met Nugget, the 11 year old yellow lab, and Delta and McGyver, two horses whose corral is right outside our kitchen window.

We’re surrounded by mountains that have no trees on them, just tussocks of grass. In fact, in the summer, the sheep farmers will drive the sheep up the mountains, presumably for foraging, and then bring them down in the winter. They maintain the sheep for their Merino wool, which is incredibly soft and very white. But the sheep are dark. Why? Because the lanolin in their hair follicles goes to the very end of their fur and all the dust and dirt attaches to the oily surface of the follicles. Or so we were told and I, for one, have no reason not to believe this believable explanation.

Checkride

After our scones and tea, and a short time at our cottage, we returned to the plane with Peter and flew to Wanaka, landing at the grass strip next to the paved runway, and taxiing to his hangar and flight training operation. We lunched in town and then Peter and I reviewed NZ airspace and flight rules, which are similar to those in the US. As it turns out, almost all of the flying we will do is in Class G airspace, i.e. uncontrolled airspace. For example, the lower level of Class C airspace where we are is 11,175 feet, and the lower level of Class D airspace is 9,580 feet. The highest we flew today was 4,500 feet, and most of the time we flew at 3,000 feet or below. Considering that the ground level is at 1100 feet, we were never very high off the ground, and especially when we were flying up a valley hugging one side of the valley wall.

We took off on the paved runway as the wind increased and headed northeast into a broad valley. With Sugar still in the back, he asked me to demonstrate my method for recovery from a stall. Being satisfied with that effort, Peter then said he would like to run through with me the loss of an engine and an emergency landing. So “power off” and he instructed me to trim it to maintain a speed of 70 knots, look around for a suitable landing site, enter downwind at 1500 feet above ground level and turn base with about 1000 feet above ground level. Sugar must have been chewing her fingernails as we kept descending without any engine power, but I heard no complaints. l dropped full flaps as we were high for the site I had chosen, and we kept descending to what we knew was going to be a landing from which we would walk away. He asked for full power and we started climbing back to altitude, flaps up, and we headed back to Geordie Hill. With the wind increasing still more off the mountain ridges, we entered a narrow canyon at 2000 feet and, with a few bumps, flew through to the valley occupied by Geordie Hill Station, set up for downwind, and landed on their grass strip.

We said goodbye to Peter as he dropped us off at our cottage. We will miss him. He was very easy to fly with and very instructive on flying in the backcountry and landing on these out-of-the-way strips. Jo will send off the paperwork and I should have my NZ license.

We had a wonderful homegrown meal cooked by Jo, and were joined by James, their son, Lauren, a 17-18 year old girl whom they’ve hired to work with them on the farm, and Bill, from Michigan, a Beech staggerwing pilot. They are all very nice.
Still the storm has not struck and we don’t know about the flying tomorrow. Whatever, it was an exciting day for us today. After 6 months of anticipation, we are finally here.

Goodnight from a tired boy, love, Nat, Dad, Matt, DB