The Satcher's New Zealand Adventure: September 2015

Visitors!

July was a great month. My sister and her husband made the long trip to see us and we had a wonderful time during their visit.

Tammie is here!

The windy Taranaki coastline is an important first stop

After giving them a day to rest, we jumped right into it with a beach to mountain tour of Taranaki. We walked them to Waihi, drove them to Ohawe and then went up the mountain into the snow. Snow apparently attracts Taranaki Kiwis for we hit our first Taranaki traffic jam driving up to the mountain house.

Sipping coffee on the front porch

Walking to Waihi beach

Ohawe beach

A lovely couple!

Snowy day on the mountain

Mark isn't sure what to make of the snow

Sunday, I took Tammie and Mark to the Tawhiti Museum. It was my third trip but I see something new each time I visit. After the museum, we headed out to the airfield to put gas in the 172 for our trip the next day. Tammie and Mark were keen on seeing as much LOTR sites as possible, so Matamata was first on the list.

Looking out across runway 02/20

"Where'd I put the keys?"

Pumping gas

Monday dawned clear and cool, a perfect day for flying to Hobbiton. I noticed a ding in a prop blade the night before, so we had to make a quick stop in New Plymouth to let the mechanic blend the nick. The flights were perfect and the timing worked great. We took a cab into town and then a bus out to Hobbiton. Tammie loved it as evidenced by her big smile in every photo.

Frost on the runway

Getting airborne

Tammie enjoying the view

New Plymouth tower

On to Matamata

Mt Ruapehu in the background

Base to final, Matamata

Matamata i-SITE dressed up like a Hobbit hole

Posing with Gollum

Bright sunny day in Hobbiton

We arrived overhead Hawera as dusk was settling over the city. General aviation turned a grueling eight hour drive into a beautiful day.

What? No Hobbits?

The money shot

The holes are getting smaller

Me and my sister in front of the Green Dragon

So happy

Group shot

Headed back home

Not a good place for a forced landing

Taranaki coast

Wacky Hair

St Joe's has had mufti day, crazy shoe day and in June, wacky hair day. I grabbed some poofy wool yarn and fashioned some dread locks for Jack. Odd hair color is something of a fad in New Zealand. It's not at all uncommon to see women hair dyed blue or purple.

Hang loose

Trying it on for size

Ready for school

Some wacky, some normal

Anniversary

Laura and I celebrated our anniversary this June. We had dinner at the Black and White Cafe. Steven accompanied us for dinner and he consumed a large portion of the farmer's platter.

Farmer's platter

...and desert

We've been together for far too short a time. Here's to many more years with each other.

Love birds

Flying to Kapiti Coast

May 16th was a beautiful day for flying I couldn't resist. Most of my flying up to this point had been in the local area, so I was anxious to get out in the 'system'. I chose to go south to Kapiti Coast, which was the primary Wellington airport during the 40s and 50s. One of the tricky bits of flying in New Zealand is the tendency for controllers and pilots to use local ground references when reporting positions. Often, the pronunciation used on the radio doesn't match the spelling or the pronunciation used by the locals. Kapiti Coast was previously named Paraparaumu, but on the radio it's "pram-pram". At any rate, it was a lovely day to fly as the pictures can attest.

Hawera, our fair city

Looking northwest along the Taranaki coast

Mist in the valleys

Wanganui

Wanganui Airport, no parallel taxiway

Mouth of the Wanganui river

Mt Taranaki

Cast Off!

Finally in mid May, Jack was free of his cast. Nurse Lorraine spent fifteen years in Arlington, Texas. She was really nice and very competent.

Cutting off the cast

Happy to have his hand back

Laura convinced Lorraine to travel to Hawera to do a casting tutorial for the Ngati Ruanui clinic where Laura has worked the past year.

At least I can still pick my nose!

Learning the ins and outs of casting from nurse Lorraine

Another Trip to Welly

Ah, Welly, one of our favorite places in New Zealand. We went south for another visit the last weekend in May. One goal was to hit the underground market for some early Christmas shopping.

Underground Market

Another was to see the ANZAC display at Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand. There are two ANZAC displays in Wellington, one at the old Dominion Museum and the other at Te Papa. Both are products of Peter Jackson and Weta Workshop and both are great to see. The focal points of the Te Papa display are larger-than-life mannequins modeled after real participants in the campaign. The ANZAC campaign still looms large in the minds of Kiwis.

Waiting in line

Jack putting the surgeon mannequin to scale

Kiwis also talk about their farmer / aviation pioneer, Richard Pearse. Some parts of his machine are in Te Papa, including a piece of his crude propeller.