Though I'd better get my A into G and post some photos from a recent trip south.

We flew 15hrs around the south island of New Zealand, to some of my favorite places and areas I grew up hunting.

We starting flying IFR at about 3am, on track direct to Hokitika at, but we hit stong winds aloft crossing the northern tip of the southern alps - got down to a ground speed of 24kts..... in a 210hp XP Hawk! So we flew a reciprocal course, descended to Nelson, cancelled the IFR flight plan, and flew under cloud VFR along the coast instead.

This photo's from later in the day, after we cleared the weather.


Here's one place we stopped to say hello to friends, the small airport at Franz Josef.

From here we travelled south to Haast, where we starting stooging around in valleys we know well. Spotting fly fishermen at remote huts. The weather was quite hazy which made for interesting lighting:

From there we tracked up the Landsborough valley, Clarke, Wills, and others in the area.


We spotted plenty of game animals, but not of the photos came out much good.

Here we are circling a tarn, looking for deer sign in the fringes.



There's an airstrip in this photo, although not immediately obvious. One-way into the trees. This is Harpers Flat.

Maybe now it's easier to see the airstrip:


Flying deeper into the Souther Alps, heading south.


Here's the Wills valley.


More shots across the alps from the Western side. They are quite different to the east, as you'll see in a moment.



Here's the machine parked up for the night.

Next morning, we set a direct course for the eastern side of the Alps, as we needed fuel and couldn't muck around.

On track:


On approach for landing at Omarama:


Parked up at Omarama, as you can see it was a (typically) hot dry day...



Here's the local glider towing Piper, parked up n front of the airport cafe. Taxiing up for morning tea isn't a bad way to start the day!


Climbing north from Omarama after nipping into town, you can see the difference between the glacial lake and the "non-glacial" one pretty clearly!

Cool pics! I'm going to come visit you one of these days. I'm amassing more kiwi friends lately than I know what to do with.

Beautiful pictures! We're you taking pictures through the plexiglass or open window?

Hope to come there for some hunting next year.

And a couple of shots from tracking up the eastern side of the alps on the way home. Good day to be tracking away from the sun! Hot!!
There's actually an airstrip just on the alluvial fan above/behind the wheel fairing:


There was quite a bit of traffic around at low level, and we got tired, so we ended up filing an IFR plan in-flight and proceeding up into the controlled airspace on track for the north island.
You can see the Wilberforce valley here.... another old hunting haunt



A good trip, can't wait to go again just as soon as we're through the test flying hours on the new machine.

MAU MAU wrote:Beautiful pictures! We're you taking pictures through the plexiglass or open window?

Hope to come there for some hunting next year.

All aerial shots were taken through plexi, there's an observer door on the starboard side and we never bothered slowing down to open it....

P.s.
If you're coming hunting here, please stay away from "heli-hunting" (hazing game with helicopters). Hunting tourists are often talked into it as a "legitimate practice" by certain guides, rest assured it's not considered fair chase or ethically acceptable by SCI, NZDA, or any other hunting organisation I know of.

Great pictures!

And holy placards, Batman!

Great TR Battson! That is some gorgeous scenery for sure. My grandfather spent some time in NZ during WW2 (I think on training or R&R or something) and he still talks about it to this day. He is 93 years old by the way. Definitely on my list of places to see....

CamTom12 wrote:Great pictures!

And holy placards, Batman!

Yeah - you should see the rest of the cabin - it's all like that, even overhead...

You may have noticed to two ROCKS attached to the top of the panel - handholds in case of turbulence

We actually tore one rock off the panel getting to the west coast - some really nasty bumps at one point, the worst sustained clear-air turbulence I've flown through.

I know that plane & that pilot. He's a good bastard!

Edit: Sorry, i'm not meaning to use coarse language around here. It's a term used by the particular pilot for aeromedical discussions.

Great photos, and good to be able to file IFR to get away from the rest of us down below.