Diamond Harbour

Boxing Day - and it's not the best weather-wise so I'm holed up in Diamond Harbour. Again I am surprised by how small the township is - just a cafe/restaurant, not even found a gas station since Christchurch. Even Lyttleton doesn't have a gas station! Unbelieveable. Pretty little place; well, pretty sleepy little place really, but it overlooks Lyttelton so I got a few shots for posterity. Ferry plies the harbour between Lyttleton and Diamond Harbour. The last one of the Heads is my favourite.

Christmas

With the DS festival over, I stayed in an NZMCA POP for a few days leading up to Christmas, building a new plane for flying at parks and when there is no wind. It's a 3D foamie based (loosely) on the plans for the Big Nasty I got from RCgroups. I've made it look more like a Harvard (AT6 Texan) and here's a couple of pics building it inside the van and after giving it a coat of paint.

Just needs a few servos and electrics before it will be ready to maiden. I'm hoping this little beast will keep my fingers in practise because I'm not expecting as much wind as the summer kicks in. On Christmas eve, I headed over to Lyttleton with the idea of seeing some live bands at the local pubs. Well pretty disappointing to find that Lyttleton is a lot smaller than I expected, plus, with all the earthquake damage, there was only one venue offering live music. Lots of cleared building sites and cracks in the footpaths.

On Christmas day it was the usual drizzly wet stuff we seem to get every year, so I headed off around Lyttleton Harbour to Charteris Bay, where I stayed at a Orton Bradley Park - an old holding with some historical buildings and miles of tramping tracks. Unfortunately none of the hills faced the prevailing wind and at $8 per night I decided to move on. Had these nice trees on the harbours edge.

Tekapo

Went to Tekapo last Saturday for Dynamic Soaring. The wind was really strong from 40 - 60mph. A great view from the ridge overlooking Lake Tekapo and up to the Southern Alps.

With strong wind conditions launching was differcult; here's Alex launching Andrew's DSX - plenty of rocks and not much grass about.

And this is what the backside of the slope looked like. Pretty steep.

Andrew's DSX looked good in the air, but it was getting a lot of buffeting from the turbulent shear, and eventually it succumbed and the elevator blew off creating a massive crash that resulted in this pile of bits. $4,000 plane is no more :-(

There was no shortage of sad tales for the day, and at the end we had 9 planes in the wreckage pile. DSing is surely the hardest flying to do and the fastest way to write off a plane.

Cass Ridge

Ok, just a few photos from Cass Ridge where we flew on Tuesday and Wednesday First up, Knut's Pace - a moldie that he said has a 14 month waiting list to get a new one. Obviously very much hand-made.

Next up is Neil's Typhoon. This particular plane suffered from some surface distortion in the sun on the horiz stab and was quickly moved to the shade of a tree for closer inspection.

And Andrew's self-made Scratcho, which flew extremely well in the light conditions.

A bunch of foamies waiting for the breeze to pick up....

And finally a panorama of Lyttelton Harbour - the weather may not have been perfect but the view was still spectacular.

Christchurch - Akaroa

Arrived in Christchurch on Friday and headed straight to Wainui/Akaroa. Was pouring with rain all afternoon so stayed overnight at French Farm Bay, a tiny little spot on the western side of Akaroa Harbour.

Next morning I found the road up to the Wainui flying site was too narrow and steep and signposted as unsuitable for motorhomes - what to do? Eventually I decided to head back in to Christchurch and hook up with the Aussie guys with the chance of a ride with them. On the way, I made a detour to take in the town of Akaroa. A quaint little place, with very much a French theme. Lots of tourists etc. Here's a pic of a garden cafe on the main street.

On Sunday, the winds were just not blowing so we all headed out to an invitation to join the Christchurch Model Flyers Club's Christmas BBQ at Burnham. Some interesting planes were flying at their site.

After lunch we headed back out to Awanui in the Port Hills, but alas the wind was just not there. We spent a lot of time just mooching about waiting for the wind to pick up, but it never eventuated.

Today, Monday, they've all gone to Tekapo for the day, but I didn't think it was worth it to go so far for just one day - I'll probably head out to Tekapo with them later in the week. But for now, I'm catching up on domestics and maybe will get a chance to start building a little floater kitset (Canary from Hobby King) that I have onboard the wagon.

Kaikoura

Here's a typical pic of the Kaikoura coastline - fabulous blue sea colours when the sun is shining.

Managed to get my flat tyre sorted out finally at Kaikoura - it is now back to tubeless on the right rear - seems to be ok now. Stayed at another DOC camp just north of town where I could see this shot of snow still on the Kaikoura Ranges.

No suitable flying sites around Kaikoura so I concentrated on some repairs to the JW and battery charging in readiness for arrival at Christchurch this coming weekend. Did take in the sites tho - seal colony was interesting and cliff walk very nice too. Was tempted to try a paua fritter at the roadside BBQ but was too dear at $9. Had my first POP - park over property - NZMCA site at the Kaikoura Trotting track. Met a couple from Tauranga! And, just for Mel, here's a couple of photos of the inside of the wagon.

Overniting at Parnassus near Cheviot tonite, (Wednesday).

Marfells Beach

After leaving Cullensville, I headed back thru Blenheim and out to Marfells Beach near Cape Campbell. A delighful little DOC camp right on the beach with my own picnic table and even a water tap!

Had a great fly off the cliffs on Saturday (see arrow on pic)before the wind turned real nasty. Saturday night was galeforce and many times I thought the wagon was gonna get overturned.

The clouds looked really weird, but I guess this is par for the course when you look out to Cook Strait.

I decided to punish this camp by staying on until the weather came right - and finally today, Monday, it is a beautiful day. Will definitely be coming back to this spot again.

Into the South Island

A fair bit has happened since I was at Ocean Beach, Havelock North. Travelled down to Masterton and stayed with Franky for a few days. She helped me out with a flat tyre (had to buy a new jack in Masterton)then took me out to Castlepoint to see the light house and a walk up around behind the beach.

From there it was off to explore Lake Wairarapa and maybe a chance to fly off the southern coastline. But no such luck, the wind was fearsome, but no good slope was accessible from where I was (another spot named Ocean Beach). I did get a photo looking over towards the coast out towards Cape Palliser with great looking white cliffs. And a morning pic of sunrise over Lake Wairarapa.

The next day I woke up in the South Island - it's been 34 years since I was here under my own steam, as it were. First job was to drop off a bag of lead-head nails for Franky's flatmate Rodger at his property at Linkwater on the Great Charlotte Sound Road. He allowed me to camp on his place at Cullenville Road - site of an old goldmining town in the 1890's. So I dragged out the gold pan and tried my luck in the river - no gold came leaping out of the pan at me, but I have saved some samples for closer inspection later. Also tramped up the valley along the old miners trail and came across an old firplace - that's my pan on the mantlepiece.

Have also been to the Rimutaka Incline and Fells engine museumn in Featherston, and Stonehenge, Carterton. Am posting this from the Blenheim library before heading south.

Te Mata Peak - Havelock Nth

Wednesday - Tried too fly at Te Mata Peak but the wind was just a bit fickle - so all I got was one short circuit with the MiniSleek and a crooked landing. My wagon is in the pic below - the nearer of the two.

On Thursday I headed out to the coast to a little place called Ocean Beach. It has a great flying site - similar to Ruapuke (Raglan) but with an easier landing zone all in long grass.

I flew 3 planes - maidened the "Bitza" my first motor powered glider. Was stoked with how well it went first time out. Also flew the MiniSleek and then had another go with the problem child - the Slanky - a T-tailed version of a plank. It's in the photo above. I've been trying to develop this plane since last Christmas and now is on Assan 2.4gHz. No more glitching but it still needs to have the aileron servos replaced as they are still double-centering. Still, I got to fly it for 10mins before a duffed landing over the back on the adjacent paddock resulting in another broken clevis. Have since driven down country and stayed with an ex-flatmate from way back - Franky Spite on her farm near Masterton. More when the wind picks up...

South By Slope begins....

Welcome to the new adventure! I've finally managed to get up and running with a motorhome to travel around New Zealand and visit some of the country's slopesoaring sites. First trip away was a shakedown cruise to Raglan/Ruapuke on the west coast - here's a pic of the sunset shoreline.

After the trip, it was all systems go to pack up my house for renting out and getting away on the road. Here's the fridge stored away full of music cd's - alas, I can't take them all with me.

And finally the trip is underway with a poster added to the rear of the motorhome - taken at the first slope site on arrival in Havelock North, near Te Mata Peak....