UK season begins...

I think we're over the jet lag now...

We've managed to get out and do some flying - hoorah! I managed a flop of an XC over the back of Worcester Beacon, and both Carolyn and I got good soaring in at Kettle Sings on separate days. Both flights in strongish winds, but good to get some air time. And finally, Malvern club has entered into the BCC this year, and we had our first crack at the Blorenge last Saturday. Picture (right) shows us wondering whether its flyable! Chris has a good write up here: MHGA Blog

Meantime, I've been working out how to get flights uploaded to Leonardo. Links are set up to the left, but here are some of my New Zealand flights:

* Mt Cheeseman
* Coronet Peak
* Trebble Cone
* Te Mata Peak

Day 19 - Homeward bound

But not before a last bit of tourism. Having dropped off luggage at the airport, and navigated to the Campervan depot in Auckland, we took a harbour tour which turned out to be quite varied. Good views of downtown Auckland, the surrounding area - north and south shores, and plenty of water borne vessels. These ranged from kyacks, old steamers and yachts to container ships with the playthings of multi-millionaires, the America's Cup racers and a cruise-liner in between. At one stage we slowed down to make our way through a yacht race.

We stopped off at Rangitoto island, the youngest island in the area (600years), a volcano and a reserve which the DOC is removing all vermin from. It has no soil, all the exposed ground is black although it is tree covered (Manuka which doesn't need to put roots into soil if I recall correctly) . On sunny days the temperature here can be significantly higher than in the city.

Travelling back we got a good view of Devonport and its North Head. This hosts gun placements and is riddled with tunnels, dating back to late 19th century in response to a possible Russian threat (never materialised) and then WWI & WWII. We went for a walk around here after our harbour tour. The tour carried on past a couple of naval ships, a sugar factory and a bungy jump at the Auckland harbour bridge, complete with a couple of bungy jumpers.

Following our walk around the guns and through the tunnels at North Head, we finished off the day with a last meal on one of the quays: A fine dinner of lamb (it came down to a coin toss between lamb and the seafood dishes) washed down with a bottle of Merlot Cabernet.

So our holiday in NZ comes to an end. Off to the airport for a 27hr trip back home. Hope you've enjoyed these reports (please do post a comment or drop us a line - it's nice to know who's been reading). The keen eyed will have seen that the last few postings are all a bit late - sorry it has taken us a bit of time to update - and yes we're back in Blighty! It's been a great holiday - we ended up taking around 500 photographs, but we'll spare you... click on the slideshow to see the selected highlights.

Now, on to hopefully a good British flying season...

Day 18 - More water

The end is approaches as we fly out of Auckland tomorrow. So today we travelled north getting a little past Hamilton where we had intended to stay overnight - but everything was booked due to a Rugby match we suspect. Weather didn't make sleeping in the van that attractive proposition, so it was fortunate we found a backpackers not too far away off the beaten track.

Leaving Lake Taupo we'd stopped off to see the Huka Falls where water from the Waikato river that drains the Lake is forced through a narrow channel at an impressive rate (220,000 litres per second!). There's a video of someone paddling Huka falls here. We did not paddle it! (or see anyone else do so.)

A short distance away are the "Craters of the Moon" - an area of hot springs that became more active after an earthquake caused some of the water trapped in the fault to drain away (space for condensing). The result is fumeroles, craters, and boiling mud pools spewing an impressive amount of steam (smelling of rotten eggs of course). What was most astounding was the noise as one particular vent was so active that it sounded like a steam engine.

A drive through the rain took us to Waitomo where we finished off doing a couple of tours of two of the caves there to look at the Glow worms. The first took us into the smallest cave there where we got taken into a chamber by boat. (Glow worms feed on insects brought in by rivers.) The chamber had hundreds of thousands of glow worms - it was like looking up at the milky way on a very clear night. It's quite spooky to be able to see people around you by just the light of these insects! The second tour accesses 1.5km of a 7km cave used by the black water rafters where we saw more in the way of stalactites and stalagmites and got some close up views of more glow worms.

Day 17 - In the footsteps of Frodo

The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is held to be the best one day hike in New Zealand - and who are we to disagree? The hike is very popular, so much so a bus service is laid on to get hikers from one end of the track to the other. Ideal! So, an early start from Taupo to get us to Whatapapa got us bussed up to the trail head at Mangatepopo.

So what makes this hike so special? Well it takes the walker through a great variety of terrain, crossing some of the most active volcanic areas of NZ, but also through scrubland, dramatic valleys, and forest.

We started with an hour's hike along a track winding through moorland towards the rising sun and the backdrop of Mt Ngauruhoe - more familiar to fans of the Lord of the Rings films as Mount Doom! This is a text book Volcano - conical with an almost perfect caldera with the scars of past lava flows rolling down its flanks. From the point know as Soda Springs we climbed up the "Devil's Staircase" (why is it always the devil?...) which wound its way fairly steeply up over a old lava flow. The views just getting better and better...

We were fortunate to get a nice sunny morning for the trip, but winds were at 45kph and forecast to get stronger - certainly not a flying day. This did mean we got fantastic views with the tops clear of cloud, save that rolling in and up from the north - adding more drama to the scene (as if that were needed). The hike took us from the top of the Devil's Staircase across the flat of the southern crater. Truly an alien landscape if ever there was one! Then it was another climb up onto the rim. The photographs were mounting up too!

We'd made good time arriving at the rim, so we decided to take the hour or so to take the side hike to the summit of Mt Tongariro to get some more views. The wind was picking up quite a bit though and as we hiked around the rim of the southern crater we got regularly sand-blasted as the wind whipped up grit from the northern crater and across us. (We're still fishing grit out from our ears a day later). But it was worth it - more great views of Mt Ngauruhoe and we just got a glimpse of Mt Tanganika out on the coast (despite gathering cloud).

More sand blasting took us back to look down on Red Crater. Just when you think there are no more incredible surprising sights this tramp can possibly throw at you... Red crater is very red. Many spots may claim to be the gates of hell, but here the devil was spawned. Words fail here - hopefully you'll get some idea from the photo.

Down the rim took us past the Emerald lakes (mmm sulphur...) and across the northern crater. By now the cloud was starting to drop so the clear views we'd had of the blue lake early were now shrouded. Then suddenly the scenery was quite different as we turned down into a valley reminiscent of a steep sided glen, covered in mosses, heathers, and alpine flowers as well as large areas of lichen. As we descended this gave way to shrubbery and the Ketetari hot springs (mmm more sulphur...), then finally an hour's walk out under the forest canopy to await the bus.

Day 16: Te Mata Peak

Bary, the local knowledge from Airplay, was in the supermarket when we first phoned. Eventually we made contact and arranged a meeting at a garage in Havelock North. The weather was looking better and improving so we were eager to get going. Roland from Switzerland was also in the carpark so we convoyed to the landing field. Lots of space with only a few trees and a couple of radio-controlled models stunting in one corner. From here we could see two faces of the ridge of Te Mata which rises steeply from a few lower hills in front. All I'd ever done from this site before were a few top to bottoms on an"Introduction to Paragliding" course, 16 years ago. The main take-off then was a tiny steep slope over a cliff next to the top carpark. Barry was able to point out a "less challenging" slope - still very steep but much longer.
A little while later we were standing above the take off and watching in disbelief as Barry disappeared over the edge of the cliff. Following him we found a path down an almost vertical cliff to the only-marginally less steep take-off slope. "Hold on to the flax" Barry called over his shoulder. He then demonstrated rapid wing deployment and was soon off into strong lift.
I was off next and going up as soon as I'd stepped off. I was up at ridge level and decided to move away from the take-off zone to allow Nigel and Roland to get off. There was lift all along the ridge until, rather carelessly, I dropped into wind shadow behind a narrow spine and sank like a stone. I just made it back over the spine but too low to find any lift and landed under the take-off. Packing up I began the stagger back up the hill. Nigel was still messing around on take-off and I was close enough to snap him taking off.

By the time I got up to take-off Roland had also left and both were high above me. By the time I took off - again into strong lift - they had both disappeared. I spent the next hour and a half bobbing around the front of the hill, travelling between250 and 640 meters above sea level and getting brilliant views across the bay all the way to Napier and admiring the neat vineyard with formal gardens, lake and posh house which had appeared in front of the Peak in the last 16 years. But where was everyone else? I could see Roland's wing on the ground and Nigel informed me by radio that he had had to land because he had a twisted riser. Barry had also landed and was supervising an air steward from Holland who was running down the gentle slopes in the landing field under a beginner's wing.
Eventually Nigel made it back in to the air untwisted. He was getting some lift but wasn't coming up to my level. Apparently his wing is now too old and once his new wing arrives... He hung around for a while and then made for the landing field. I followed him down, over the "middle hill" as I was getting hungry and I thought we might need to move on. But no, Nigel was keen to do it all again so I drove him back up the hill. He was lifted off while still reversed and swung round in the air. A lot of the slope was now in shadow and he didn't stay up for long.
Back in the van and on the road again we were lucky to find a room for the night in Taupo and very lucky to find some very good food in a near-by bar.

Day 15 - Where there's a cricket match...

Today started out bright and sunny - but breezy. Still, we went out to the summit of Te Mata peak so Carolyn could show me where she'd been thrown off. It's quite a site with a coastal east facing aspect comprising a NE face and a SE face. These are cliffs atop grassy banks and a wide open fields for landing. There's also a back side for S. The top launch looked committing to say the least - an open shallow gully with barely room for a single glider right over the highest cliff face.

Too windy, and no local pilots, we decided to head into town, see if we could contact Airplay (the local PG school) and find something to amuse ourselves with. We eventually managed to get a number and contact Barry who was outside the area that day but due to return, and arranged to speak again the next day. So as the the skies rapidly overdeveloped to a dark covering of cloud, and we discovered the 1st one-day international between NZ and India was taking play that afternoon in Napier, we booked ourselves on another wine tour. Rain stops play!

Though our wine tour was pleasant enough, taking in three wineries and a tour of the works at Moani ( a small organic concern with a passionate wine maker). A tour of the vines was put aside given the rather damp conditions.

We found the cricket game on Sky TV back at our room - play was back on in a reduced overs "Duckworth-Lewis" game. What had been a sell-out (apparently) was now a near empty stadium . We watched India put in some fine batting to close their innings before heading out to eat. We ended up at a Curry House - but 3rd time lucky, this one was good. (NZ lost the cricket match by quite a margin.)

Day 14 - Windy Wellington

We decided to have a bit of walk around Wellington today; take a look at the historic buildings and a walk around the botanical gardens. All quite pleasant in the the sun, though the wind that Wellington is reknowned for was definitely present today. We rather did things the wrong way around in taking the furnicular down from the botanical gardens to the city having walked up - but still fun to do.

Following getting accommodation sorted (not easy as fruit picking season), and catching up on the blogging etc., we headed out to Hastings. This is near to Te Mata peak where Carolyn started paragliding. (We'd have been better off at Havelock North for restaurant options as Hastings, although the central town is not geared for tourists particularly, but our hotel was comfortable enough for the 2 nights, and a good deal with breakfast included)

Day 13 - Twitching

Eventually we dragged ourselves out of Gill's comfey spare bed and she drove us into town for breakfast with Diane - a bit of a reunion since we all lived together in Wellington in 1993!

Nigel and I then headed off to the Karori Wildlife Park where the only mammals alowed in are human! There is a tight, tall fence around it and they check your bag for mice! (No, really!) Inside this mainland island the bush is mainly native and home to rare native birds which developed the now risky strategy of nesting on the ground. Nigel's hunting instincts came to the fore as he stalked tui, saddlebacks and stitchbirds through the undergrowth with his camera. We also spotted some tuatora, ancient remnents of the dinosaur clan, as they came out of the undergrowth to bask in the sun. The spines on their necks have been decorated with different combinations of coloured beads for identification purposes giving them a slightly hippy look. The whole park is set in a valley that used to hold two resevoirs until it was pointed out that having that much water on a fault line in an earthquake zone above a major population centre was not one of the brightest ideas. It was quite sheltered from the famous Wellington wind though and we had a very pleasant afternoon.

Gill and Diane then introduced us to an atmospheric Turkisk resturant where we once again indulged in our newest wine discovery, Pinot Noir from Central Otago!

Day 12 - A quiet day

Nelson is described by Lonely Planet as a "Paragliding Haven" - not when it is in a howling gale being thrashed by the the rain its not! The ferries from Picton to Wellington were booked until the evening so we were left with walking around Nelson for a few hours (dull) followed by a trip that would have been scenic, if we'd been able to see it, to Picton to wait on the ferry.

Amazingly the ferry crossing was smooth and we arrived in Wellington 10.20pm and a short trip (having got directions from bar staff on the ferry) to Kilburnie to meet up and stay with one of Carolyn's old friends.