Flying Adventures - New Zealand

Greetings!  Wanted to share some highlights from an awesome and fabulous trip the we took to New Zealand a while back, in August of 2005.  Both my husband and I are private pilots, so our vacations tend to focus on aviation-related activities. We'd had our private pilot certificates a little over a year when we took this trip.

A little bit about myself - I grew up mainly in the south suburbs of Chicago, and would probably not fit the profile of a typical 'always-wanted-to-fly, all-my-male-relatives-were-pilots' pilot, if there is a such a thing.  But I pursued this dream, and through it, discovered a part of the world I would have otherwise never seen as a pilot, and as a member of the 99s, an international organization of women pilots (www.ninety-nines.org)  The International Conference that year was in Christchurch, New Zealand- our adventure begins after the conference ends.... 

Hoping it starts a spark for others to follow their dreams too - enjoy, let me know what you think!
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Leslie & Grant's  New Zealand Adventure

The 99s conference in Christchurch, New Zealand was a wonderful experience for this (relatively) recent 99.  I got a chance to learn much more about the organization, and meet many fellow members from all over the world.  Much will surely be written about that first week; and for me and Grant, it was certainly an adventure in itself.  But, early Friday morning, we headed off for adventure #2…..

Originally, we’d planned to try to get some flying in on our second week in NZ, with all the wonderful terrain and sights to see.  Our initial efforts to set something up on our own fizzled out; but, in early July, we’d heard about FlyInn, a NZ outfit that offers flying tours there; days spent flying (the guests do the flying, with a local pilot as a guide), along with a stay at a genuine high country sheep station, and gourmet meals in the evening.  We met up with the owners (Matt (pilot, and our guide) & Jo (his wife, and an awesome chef - now a pilot herself (Yay, Jo!))) at their booth in Oshkosh, and signed up for a 7-day flying tour of the South Island. 

I’m writing this somewhat removed from the trip, but hopefully I’ll remember the relevant stuff,will start at the second week of our journey.

Places we went.  You can also find this on Google maps: Prellwitz Air's NZ Vacation

Our NZ adventure, part 2, began early the morning of Friday, Aug. 26.  That morning we got up at a very early hour (3-ish?), to pack bags and check out of our hotel.  We were to catch the first flight from Christchurch to Queenstown, and Matt would pick us up from there.  Knowing we would be in a smaller plane, it didn’t make sense to take all of our luggage with us; besides, where were we going to use formal wear on a sheep station?  We’d brought along empty duffel bags to use as our second week’s luggage, and took just what we needed – the hotel was happy to hold our larger bags until we returned the following Friday.  This was not the easiest task for me, as I’m known for having so many bags accessorized with that lovely orange ‘HEAVY’ label each time they’re loaded on the scales at the United Airlines counters.  But somehow, you’re way more cognizant of weight and balance issues in a small plane.  I managed to pack the basics, allowing for a laundry run, in one bag, with my flight bag as the carry-on.  Going through the check-in process at Christchurch, I was silently proud of my achievement; including hiking boots, my little blue duffel bag weighed all of 5.9 pounds  :)

We landed at Queenstown around 8:30 in the morning.  It was sunny but a bit cold, and it felt good being in the terminal. Matt met us there in our week’s transportation to get back to Geordie Hill, our home base.  Our transportation for the week: ZX-WAX, a yellow and blue Cessna 172M (yes, an M model).  One radio, one ADF, one transponder, no VOR, and a dash-mounted GPS unit. used primarily for groundspeed calculation.  I was kinda nervous, but with a 180 hp SP engine placed in it,  I was very surprised by what it could do. 

Highlights:

Home base, as well as many of the sites we landed at, were not paved runways – turf was the surface of choice.  As ‘city-fied flatlanders’, we had to adapt quickly to landing on real turf strips, and remembering what you’re taught about flying in mountains and valleys, it all comes in handy.  Having a BFR with a NZ CFI the first day (how’d you like to do THAT on your vacation?) helped bring it all back…

Flying every day, started early in the morning, home around 5:30 for all nights except one.  We lucked out with clear skies almost every day, got in about 10 hrs of PIC time for each of us.  Places we went:

Mt. Aspiring - the “Matterhorn” of the South, about 9500 ft at the peak.  With updrafts, we were up and around it with less effort than I thought.

Big Bay – yes, it’s a beach; the only time I’ve had to check tides along with notams (you want to make sure it’s going out...)

Milford Sound – the gateway to Fiordlands National Park.  The most amazing geography, and the 2^nd place winner for most challenging landing.  What you’re working with: field elevation, 10 ft above sea level.  It’s at the end of a channel; the flight path in and out resembles a figure 8.  Coming in, the sides of the channel are anywhere between 4500 and 6000 feet.  With a few valleys cut into the sides here and there, so you get rapid switches between updrafts and downdrafts on your approach.  Power management at its finest….

Flying down through the fiords, not just on top of them!

Mandeville – a soft grass field (aah….). and a vintage aircraft restoration factory.  Some lovely Tiger Moth aircraft out there…

Stewart Island – off the south tip of the South Island.  By far the most challenging landing :  Rwy 04-22, 2400 feet, and a strong northwest wind – Grant did a go-around, and Matt did another one before we finally landed. Stayed overnight, went fishing the next day -I caught a shark!  (we put it back in the water - shark wasn't on the menu that day :) ) 

I'll remember Stewart Island not only for the amazing geography and challenging landings, but because it was the first place I heard about Hurricane Katrina - her impending arrival in New Orleans, with a picture of people walking the road alongside cars to leave before she hit, made the front page of the newspaper there.

Balclutha – a large, shortgrass field, and the only one where we had to do a low pass to clear off the sheep before we could land (they moved nicely enough, though J  )

Glenorchy – one of the few dirt strips I know that has charter service; Deep in Lord of the Rings territory, did some jetboating!

Mt Cook-  Landed on one of the few paved (or, ‘sealed’, as it’s said there) runways, and took a ride in a Cessna 185 with skis up to the Tasman Glacier.  Landing on snow is an art form.  Took a walk on the approach path; surprisingly comfortable - at 7500 feet, it’s noon, it’s sunny, it’s 50 degrees, the snow shows no signs of melting….

Dunedin – landed at the larger airport for some shopping.  The ride back to home base was very bumpy; the only time I put down both the camera and camcorder (Grant and Matt were in front), and just sat there, hands holding on to the seatbelt, while we went through a number of head-bumping air currents to get back home.  Later that evening, I was congratulated on my calm demeanor as a passenger.  We responded by introducing Matt and Jo to Grant’s famous margaritas…

Christchurch – we arranged to end the tour in Christchurch, so we could get our large luggage for the trip home.  The weather was interesting that morning...... lots of lovely low clouds over the passes, careful flight planning that day.   I flew the last leg, and was rewarded not only with a very nice flight, but a gate at CHC!  Not very often you get to power down with a 747 in the next parking spot….

All in all, a very action-packed 7 days.  It took it’s toll on my eligible vacation time at work (as well as my bank account (!)), but I have lots of pictures, and great memories of a once-in-a lifetime experience, not to mention some newfound friends many time zones away.