To continue my fantasy journey of ORBX NZNI....

 

Well after a night in Auckland wher my new found Ag pilot friend introduced me to his rich "Warbird" owning friend

 

.....I ventured North... in his restored Strikemaster. As a Brit I of course knew that these were the basic trainers for RAF pilot "back in the day".

 

What PPL wouldn't give his right arm for a flight ....but not perhaps his breakfast?

 

Leaving Whenuapai (NZWP) we headed North

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...and all was well until he decided to show me why this was such a great trainer...

 

 

 

 

 

 

..from high G aerobatics he decided, not noticing the death grey I'd turned, to show me how well it behaved at low level..

 

 

 

 

The aerobatics overhead Kaitaia finally made any further use of the camera ...well lets just say I lost interest ...and breakfast

 

 

 

You only remember the good bits

 

...and I'd managed to cadge a lift on to Taupo later in the day in my favourite.

 

The Caravan.

 

That too had some surprises in store!

 

Geoff

ORBX did a fantastic job! I visited both NZNI and NZSI back in 2003, and really enjoyed it.

The north island seems greener than south island.

 

HLJAMES

So far I've been using Summer and flying at different altitudes and times varying the weather as much as possible. On the next Dog Leg to Lake Taupo, I've overflown The Firth of Thames and (what I've discovered is..) The Great Peat Mound. Down a highly cultivated valley towards the wilder country before Lake Taupo wher there are some surprises! Need to resize the screengrabs still ....so later...

 

From Taupo I'm planning a circular return trip round Tongariro National Park. I'll forward this to Autumn and early evening to highlight the relief.

 

BTW I see from the news that it erupted for the first time in a century earlier this month. That's and animation and texture that won't have been modeled!!!

 

Geoff