Eastern Adventures '25 (continued)

Wairoa was the next planned Aerodrome to fly to as we packed our bags at Waikanae Top 10 camping grounds, to take back to the airport.

Our taxi driver was very interested in our adventure as we drove back to Gisborne airport to put our gear into our aeroplanes and ready ourselves for the next leg.

We had all been peering at the hills to the southwest of the Gisborne Aerodrome to ascertain whether the cloudy hills would let us through to our next coffee stop at Wairoa.

After we started up, I led the way by flying coastal to Mahia Peninsula then saw a rain storm over the coast ahead which was obscuring the coastal beaches towards Wairoa. I descended a little as I approached the rain shower so that I could maintain visual contact with the white caps along the beach and heard others behind me having difficulty on the inland track so suggested they continue along the coastline as I was getting better visibility there.

I soon passed through the coastal shower to arrive in the Wairoa circuit in fine weather and a little breeze coming in from the coast. One twin engined aircraft was on the parking bay and an ag plane was nose into a hangar with people working on it.

I wandered over and spoke with the team as the others arrived so the ag pilot, Simon, offered to drop us off in Wairoa for our coffee stop over. They are always a friendly bunch here as I pass through so I have always enjoyed this stop over. Wairoa township in fine weather is also a lovely area to wander around as the river is flowing beside the Main Street where the cafes and movie theatre is located so makes a wonderful backdrop. We all enjoyed our cafe time here sitting at the outside tables taking in the view and discussing the enroute scenery and weather that we flew through to land here.

This afterwards led to a wander around the inner area of the township before walking back out to the aerodrome where our aircraft were parked. Once again, I led the way and arrived about 30 minutes before the others which gave me time to wander into the Wairoa Aero Club building.

Here I found desks and computer screens taking up the area of the club rooms. I was in discussion with the team from the Wairoa Star newspaper who were using the premises as their office as they had recently purchased the paper back from a larger entity that was discarding some of their smaller assets.

This is where my adventuring pilots found me when they walked back to the ‘drome so we all had an interesting discussion that led to three of their newspaper team having a ride in two of our aircraft in the nearby hilly areas. They thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to get airborne.

Richard Coop had also arrived back from Matamata in his Cessna 180 with one of his team and had landed in Wairoa to drop him off so again we chatted for a while.

Departure time led us to our next destination of Hastings and I was the only one to fly across the water to overhead Napier on the direct track while the others flew outside controlled airspace around the coastline. Weather was fine as the showers had evaporated while on the ground in Wairoa so we all had a good flight. The weather was also fine in Hastings but an unusual wind prevailed on arrival causing a short bumpy arrival for some using the northern runway while others changed runway to land to the south and had a better approach and landing.

After securing our aircraft we had a quick look around the aero club building before heading off to Havelock with the Chief Flying Instructor who was finishing work as we were ready to depart. This overnight location was for Bob to visit with a friend of his so we all met at a nearby cafe for a street side meal in the afternoon sunlight. Another enjoyable evening spent in a different location but next morning didn’t allow for a sightseeing trip to Te Mata Peak as I had to hail a cab �� and be taken to Hastings Hospital for a catheter to be inserted.

This broke up our adventure somewhat as John in TXP and Bob in FXC had decided to return to Whitianga and Ardmore. John was at his hour limit for annual inspection and Bob had appointments to keep and adverse weather was brewing. Murray departed southwards to Masterton leaving a full fuel can under the Pelican for my eventual arrival back at Hastings Aerodrome.

Well, that could have suggested the end of the adventure but I had arranged with Tony Cox to have 40O meters of the old Martinborough runway mown. This half runway was located on his property so I didn’t want to miss out on this great opportunity chat with him and also Alistair and Pauline.

The weather was fine and Peter Rix had planned to fly to Port Gore and Nopera with a couple of other pilots from Masterton before arriving in Omaka so my continued flight south took advantage of the good weather.

I hadn’t landed at Martinborough for some time so initially flew past the airstrip as it looked quite different now that it had a fence across the middle and long grass on the edges of the strip. The easterly winds gave me a pleasant approach and I pulled up in about 2/3 thirds of the length where a gate allowed access to the old hangar I used to accommodate the Pelican in and Tony arrived shortly afterwards on his quad bike.

It sure was good to be able to use this strip again as I hadn’t seen Tony since I moved to Whitianga 11 years ago. Now he has built his own house and the Pelican’s hangar stores his equipment. Robyn’s Cessna 172 is no longer hangared there either as he keeps it at Paraparaumu but does pop in occasionally at Martinborough.

Securing the Pelican on the side of the strip was ok as no longer stock roaming there but a tractor was cutting baleage on the remainder of the old strip.

Tony had visitors so happily took me over the Alistair and Pauline’s on his quad bike to find the old workshop beside their house was flooded with water. Alistair had friends there too and they had located the burst pipe and shut the water off and were trying to push the flooded area out into the driveway.

Well, that was a surprise entry into Alistair and Pauline’s back yard so I left them to it and entered the house and chatted to Pauline while the others cleaned up. Pauline was most surprised to see me there after I had messaged her when leaving Hastings and was really concerned that I was planning on continuing south to Omaka. We did have a very pleasant evening catch-up though and I overnighted with them.

Next day I purchased fuel from the BP station in Martinborough and had personal service to fuel my containers. A lost art that has been retained at BP there.

Pauline was off to the gym so I bid her farewell then Alistair dropped me and my fuel over to the Pelican and saw me off out of the old strip.

That was a hair-raising event as I noticed I wasn’t accelerating normally and would have taken the top wire off the fence had they not dropped it for my take-off. I found the propeller RPM was 400 rpm down on take-off RPM and couldn’t figure out why that had happened.

The weather was fine and all temps and pressures were normal so I continued the climb via the Remutaka Pass and then descended out towards Tītahi Bay and across Cook Strait to the Brothers Islands and onwards via the coast to Omaka.

As I flew into the Marlborough sounds traffic zone there was a “G’day Wally” voiced and I realised Peter and his fellow aviators had left Nopera and were enroute to Omaka too. They had flown the previous day from Masterton to Port Gore, D’Urville Island then overnighted at Hopewell Lodge, our favourite spot in Kenepuru Sounds that we usually visit each year.

Heck the pace was back to normal and I followed the three of them into Omaka to shut down outside the Marlborough Aero Club clubhouse where they were tying their aircraft down to the secure fittings embedded in the parking bay there.

These are a real handy thing in this normally pleasant weather aerodrome but I recall having to manoeuvre the Pelican back to the clubhouse fence when the wind got up to over 35 kts during a previous Healthy Bastard’s competition when the wind brought the event to a sudden closure.

This suited our eastern adventurers as we all lined up together to shift our camping gear over to the nearby Bristol freighter parked at the rear of the clubhouse. This is where the late approval for visitors to Healthy Bastards were approved to camp after the club rented shower toilet facilities for their safe camping off the aerodrome. I had asked for this prior to dispatching from Whitianga so was glad to see this approval was given as there were about 8 happy campers under the Bristol’s wing.

The set up of an Air Scout BBQ trailer beside the clubhouse also gave us all a real outdoors meal area to enjoy our evening in very pleasant sunny conditions.

Ray Patchett, the retired owner of Patchett Ag Air, was nearby chatting to a friend when I walked in from the Pelican with my empty fuel containers and asked for a lift to a refuel bowser if anyone was going into Blenheim. He obliged and volunteered to run me in.

I had seen him here many times over my years of visiting Omaka but the first time I had spoken with him so a very pleasant tiki tour to the fuel pumps, about 4 kms away, followed. It was the first time I had spoken with anyone about the keto diet so was suitably impressed to hear his positive results since being on this diet.

Next day dawned beautifully so our breakfast on the tables at the clubhouse front lawn enabled us to view the arrivals flying in for the event. It was also where we tracked Murray flying in from Masterton to join our camping party and be a sideline flyer this time instead of a participant as per the year I first met him, at the hangar dinner table, about 7 years ago after this event.

He and I have flown many annual camping trips around the North and South Island of NZ since, as we both enjoy the remote strips that many pilots don’t visit. Peter Rix has also joined us on these trips too but has been out of the air for a couple of years while building his new Savannah. He has wasted no time since having this flying for the past 7 months and already clocked up over 120 hours since its test flight.

Two other Masterton pilot builders also joined Peter to end up camping with us but neither of them were entrants but were sideline spectators too.

A lot of work goes into these events so I had counted 28 people on the landing area plus more were on the other runway scheduling the entrants for their departure slots. Coupled with a number of others guiding spectators to the landing zone must have added to 50 volunteers at least.

This year’s event was over by midday so they must have been disappointed at the response as I have watched this into the mid-afternoon previously.

A very pleasant evening in the hangar for the meal and chat with others followed.

Next day dawned for my propeller maintenance to begin as I had collected some hose and squeeze bottle Saturday morning from Bunnings and Jay from JEM aviation had given me some fluid to top the level up in the hydraulic system. As the others packed up their overnight gear I attempted to remove the bubbles with help from any spare hands passing by.

It was unsuccessful so I needed to await Jay arriving Monday morning to get his help.

After a couple of trips into a parts supplier in Blenheim, one of Jay’s team welded a fitting onto a screw so that we topped up the fluid then a call to Stan Hyde rectified the pitch stop setting. This was followed by a test flight that proved our actions had solved the problem.

Ah, a special thanks to Jay for his great assistance in getting me serviceable for dispatch back to Whitianga.

But wait there is more.

The Marlborough Aero Club had initially loaned me a mini bus but retrieved it after they realised it was loaned to another couple. Next day I was loaned their small car �� to complete my dispatch requirements.

As I had also lost a tooth filling about the same time as the catheter problem I had found a dentist appointment in Blenheim for next day, early afternoon. This kept me on the ground a little longer to enjoy the Blenheim environment.

It had also allowed me to spot Alan Coubray and Kim landing at Omaka in their Tiger Moth, after leaving Napier’s Art Deco weekend. In turn they lunched at the Aviation Museum Cafe while I was working on the Pelican at the JEM hangar nearby. They were then ready for dispatch south to Rangiora and beyond with good tailwinds.

After my dentist appointment next day and my earlier I refuel, I was ready for dispatch northwards but the winds were forecast to be very strong. After discussions with the aero club CFI, I elected to dispatch out via Cook Strait in the hope the winds lower down would allow safe flying to Wanganui.

Quite strong headwinds and a very rough patch leaving the Rununder Point area, to the East of Picton, then I settled into generally smooth but slow flight across to Kapiti Island and onwards directly to Wanganui. As I approached Wanganui, I observed another aircraft well to the north of Wanganui so called him for his current weather. He advised lots of cloud but reasonable visibility to the north and he was enroute to Te Kuiti. At my speed of around 65-70 kts I was about 40 minutes behind him but the visibility approaching Wanganui was encouragingly good.

Daylight was still good for another 2 1/2 hours so I continued northwards after crossing Wanganui Aerodrome. However, I only managed to get to a few miles north of Raetihi before cloud and rain obscured my northwards journey and I decided to return to Wanganui at a very good ground speed of around 105-110 kts.

Fine conditions at Wanganui allowed me to taxi in to the aero club to find it all closed up. Accommodation was now my problem and the security requirements suggested I was not to camp under the Pelican wing on airport. I rushed along to the main terminal and found the late afternoon Chatham’s flight was arriving shortly and there would probably be transport into Wanganui. Heck that quickened my overnight pace as I hurriedly picketed the Pelican on the nearby grass area, grabbed my overnight gear and empty fuel containers and hurried back to the terminal.

The Chatham’s aircraft had arrived and disembarked their passengers so were already leaving in their vehicles outside the terminal. Instead of thumbing a lift I saw a taxi with no one to return to Wanganui so grabbed my ride with him.

Along the way I booked my accommodation on line after a quick internet search on my phone. The Grand Hotel was my accommodation for the night and my meal was a collection of bits and pieces left in my overnight bag. As I was rather exhausted, I was then into bed as the sun set outside the room. Whew, another day successfully over!

Next day I contacted the aero club’s team, whose numbers I had in my phone already from previous trips, to see if anyone could drop me back to the airport with my full fuel cans. I was put in touch with Stu Ashby who obliged and he collected me from a cafe about 40 minutes after I checked out of the hotel.

These are always great meetings talking with other aero clubbers as I hitch around the countryside. Stu gave me an overview of his time and association with the Wanganui Aero Club as we drove to the fuel station to top up my cans then onwards to the airport.

After refuelling my Pelican and a further brief chat with others in the aero club I departed for Whitianga in very pleasant conditions to return home in.

Another great seasonal flight completed in the great outdoors of NZ.