[Note: This post was triggered by a couple of (worthy) recent sightings, in this forum, of the "immortal" DHC-2 Beaver..."arguably the best bush plane ever built"..."the world's greatest bush plane"...so to speak...and one of the most endearing and most successful symbols in aviation history...carrying on the torch for the memories of founder Geoffrey de Havilland...For this virtual aviator, the DHC-2 Beaver was one of the first ever "payware" purchase, and I'm 100% sure it was my very first purchase from Aerosoft...decades ago...while at one later point, I had owned almost all the a/c that AS had to offer. Anyway, here, below, I'm flying the same dated and legacy (AS) DHC-2 Beaver, and the a/c has not lost its (nostalgic) appeal on me a bit...]

Next...first of all, you might ask where in the world are these places...mentioned in the Title of my post...? The answer is simple. We all know about that exotic and famous tourist destination "Milford Sound"...well-regarded as a place of remarkable beauty and wonder...in the South (NZ) Islands..., a place that was dubbed by Rudyard Kipling, as the eighth Wonder of the world...not officially, but deservedly so...comprising of beautiful mountains, cliffs, glaciers, waterfalls and wildlife...etc. In this post, however, I'm not exploring NZMF (Milford Sound Airport), but two (less known) nearby air strips...The Quintin Lodge Airstrip (T004) and the Martins Bay Aerodrome (NZMJ) which are in the vicinity of Milford Sound...approximately 10nms and 20nms, south and north of NZMF respectively...

In my virtual world of Orbx NZ(SI), these two airports literally consist of a "Lodge" each...see pictures below...So, I'm flying my a/c door-to-door, from Quintin Lodge to the Lodge in Martins Bay Aerodrome. I must say, here, that both lifting off from Quintin Lodge air strip and landing in Martins Bay air strip pose significant challenges...e.g., lifting off T004 (see pictures) is not for the faint-hearted...🙂...as soon as you are air-borne, while you clean up...retracting the gears and flaps, you have to simultaneously make a sharp right turn, and climb rapidly upward aiming for the (partially seen) blue skies, to negotiate and survive the menacingly encroaching mountain peaks. Below, I've provided several interior and exterior shots to give you an idea... (and I do suggest for you to try it yourself...if you wish...) ...Likewise, landing (properly) on the NZMJ air strip is by no means trivial either...having to go around the mountains, from the ocean side, then descending rapidly, and aligning for touchdown, while nearly scraping the dense green foliage right underneath...is indeed a breathtakingly satisfying exercise...(I've included several screenshots, below, to illustrate this point)...

My livery, for this post, "Harris Air Freight" (C-GHAF), was supposedly used in the 1998 movie "Six Days and Seven Nights" starring Harrison Ford. This a/c was unfortunately destroyed in a crash, 5 years later, in 2003, near N Penticton, BC, Canada.

I hope you enjoy this collection of pictures of the immortal Beaver...flying between these two hidden jewels of air strips...along with expansive (en route) views of the Tasman Sea, called locally the "ditch"...but no doubt, one of the most picturesque locales on the Earth...in the South Pacific Ocean...looking even more so, in the twilight glow...here ...

Thanks for viewing...!!

[AS (DHC-2 Beaver), Orbx (NZ-SI)]

One heck of a post Sir , I really appreciate the effort you put into your screen shot submission’s . 

Fine set of shots, like the scenery !

cheers 😉

Terrific post on a legacy aircraft...many fond memories with this one.

Thank you much for the comments....johnb, pmplayer, rmeier...!!

Great set of shots! 😉 

Excellent as always, P_7878 !! Landing at Quintin Lodge is always a challenge 🙂

17 hours ago, bernd1151 said:

Landing at Quintin Lodge is always a challenge 🙂

You're right...landing in Quintin Lodge...is a much greater challenge than lifting off it...🙂....