Mandeville -Gore

OK, things have been a bit slow whilst I wait for my bank account to catch up to my travel needs :-) I parked up in Balclutha for a few days and then decided instead of doing the Catlins coast,I'd go instead to Mandeville for a Model Aircraft Fly-In. Yes Mandeville is a very small place. The model airshow was just fantastic - fine hot day, heaps of models including 3 jet turbines (fast) and some nice big warbirds too. Even watched some control-line flying. Afterwards I got invited to a bbq and about half the pilots turned up at this property about 5km west of Mandy. They had a mown airstrip out front of the house and guys flew until after dark! Several planes had nightlighting - looked pretty neat. Then out came the heli maestro, Andrew Walker from Chch and we were treated to several demos of nightflying choppers. The light display appears inside the rotor by microprocessor control. Patterns and colours blazing whilst he flys just amazing aerobatics that would be impressive in the daytime. The guy is just so skilled. He used to be an anesthetist and now develops full size helicopters for different companies. His wife flies too (learning) and she is a skilled kidney surgeon!!

The only mishap of the day was this wreckage left after a large glider was towed up and seemed to lose control whilst still on the towline. Eventually it got free but made a death plunge into the carpark.

And a nightshot that was pretty differcult to get with a still camera....

Gore was famous for Cremoata??

I stayed just out of town and this power pylon really bought my eye on sunset...