Explore More With Wally

It just seems that as soon as one adventure ends another starts to unfold. This was certainly the case after the 3 weeks of holidaying around NZ in the Pelican, over summer. Just when I thought I would park up for a while and wait for good weather, Mike and Chris emailed me to see if the RAANZ flyin at Motueka was on my agenda? I quickly checked my roster to see if it could be a 'goer' and to my surprise it looked OK, albeit arriving a bit later in the event. Looking up the details it seemed that 4 days was planned but I might make 1 1/2 of those if the weather cooperated.

I excitedly ticked off the days and kept an eye on the weather until the day arrived. Motueka is always a favourite of mine and I have been there often and getting to know people there as the Aero Club is well run and friendly. To top it off the weather has always been agreeable for microlighting and my last trip had been New Year's day, plus one, when Anne and I had arrived in overcast but fine conditions from Hanmer Springs.

Being unable to accurately determine my Pelican excursions due to the constantly changing weather forecasts this season, I printed out the RAANZ forms ready to submit and held them over until the day arrived. Finishing work in Wellington mid afternoon Saturday, I was away to Martinborough with my camping gear soon afterwards, to refuel, don Lifejackets, open gates, move stock and launch skywards. The weather had played ball with the event so it was fly direct via the Rimutuka Gap, over Titahi Bay and onwards to French Pass from where I could see that a 'direct Motueka' was possible.

 Motueka

Arriving late in the day I quickly lined up in the tie down spot and was immediately greeted by Mike and Bob Bennett who were close by and saw the Pelican's arrival. After a short conversation with them it was time to seek out Bob Wagner or Kay Hart to let them know I had arrived and count on me for the dinner that evening. This done and back to the aircraft to secure and then erect the tent, I discovered that the tent pegs had slipped out of the bag and must still be in the car boot! Oh well, better be resourceful and use what I could of the aircraft tie-down points along with a full fuel container or two and hope it doesn't blow too much tonight! All this took longer than I thought and when finished I realised that I was alone at the field and night fast approaching. To top it off I didn't know where the event was being held! Help was at hand, after a call to Bob Wagner for assistance and he drove back to collect me....happy camper!

The evening went well with the dinner and prize giving done, the mix and mingle introduced me to many flyers both known and unknown so my network continues to expand. I discovered another Pelican owner had experienced the unfortunate mishap of an undercarriage collapse during the day, fortunately on taxiing rather than takeoff or landing and as it was on grass, no extra damage. This had been sufficiently repaired during the afternoon to allow for dispatch back home to the North Island, much to the relief of the pilot owner no doubt.

Closing up, everyone assisted with the repositioning of chairs and tables and various groups drifted away to their evening accommodations, leaving myself and two others without transport, again! With Bob and Margaret Wagner locking up and the last to leave, we three accosted them for a lift. 'No room, only got the truck here!' well they were the last cab off the rank so after a quick reccy around the car park said 'jump in the back and we'll drop you off '.

Well, that was real nice of them both, as they were on their way back to Hope, just south of Nelson City, and the last thing they needed was to look after a few lost soul aviators after the show. But this is what all this convivial ‘fly in’ stuff is all about. Talk to anyone. This is what makes the flyin an exciting adventure and why we all look forward to the next one. Motueka has been the same friendliness every time I have visited.

We trucked out of the car park, with 3 of us on the tray (with Bob's Rotec engine strapped on the rear of the tray) and slowed for the left turn into main street, near the Irish Pub. Look left and look right and away down main street past the crowd outside the Irish Bar to the drop at the Motel nearby but ...”sit down Wal, there is a cop behind us with lights on”. We were duly pulled up, as it happened, directly outside Motueka Police Station!

Oh no, a good turn going bad, with the driver, Bob, being asked to accompany the officer to the rear of the truck for 'discussions'. Bob returned shortly after to collect his licence and say '$400 each lads for this favour'.

Maybe if it hadn't been St Patricks Day we would have been OK but being oblivious to the situation regarding the rules of being on the back of trucks, I had been standing holding the cab rail as we drove down the short distance to the Motel. Thinking about it, we must have looked like a bunch of 'hoodlums' at this time of night careering down main street with guys on the back and an engine strapped to the tray ....and on St Patricks night! The Boys Back In Town!

Fortunately, Bob, being a non drinker passed the breath test, truck was registered and COF'd and all lights working so we got a reprieve, tossed two off the truck for their walk of 100 meters to their motel, squeezed me into the cab and away we trotted to the airfield to toss me off for the night.

Thanks Bob and Margaret for your favours that weekend! Sorry to have put you on the Police radar!

A comfortable night in the tent which didn't move during the night, allowed me to awaken early and watch the airfield come to life as the fliers packed their gear, wrapped tents, preflighted aeroplanes and duly took flight for their various home fields. Motueka Aero Club committee once again made this a wonderful event and breakfast was available for everyone to enjoy, before leaving the Club homeward bound.

As I had other plans for the next few days, I observed all the activity from the balcony and chatted with other interested aviation minded people until my turn arrived to take flight.

Because I had been up early, I had already walked into town for my next night’s supplies and tent pegs to allow me to go fishing on D' Urville Island for a day or so on my return leg. This all loaded aboard and the low cloud to the north dissipating, as per the forecast, the Pelican and I launched into fine stable weather directly to D'Urville Island.

D'Urville Island

Arriving in the circuit, I noticed another aircraft in the parking bay, did my letdown and landing then parked nearby the C172 already parked and tied down there. The owner was painting his shed and stopped for a chat. I learned that this was Chris Brown, as we chatted away over a coffee and muffin. He showed me the wire cables he had positioned parallel to the strip on the parking bay but I never knew existed. We solved this by pulling them back up though the grass which had grown over them and learned that these were used to tie aircraft down securely because of the adverse conditions experienced on the island. I was advised to do this for the Pelican, if my plan was to stay overnight.

I let Chris know I was planning on camping and going fishing. Because he needed more equipment from the DOC farmhouse, I was invited to go back there with him on his quad bike, to see how the bunkhouse was set up, so that I could take advantage of this in future, if I wanted. There I was introduced to the DOC Ranger, Forest.

Forest enquired as to whether we knew of the forecast gale for tomorrow. What! This has been the NZ weather pattern all summer! I check the weather each day to determine suitability for Pelican flying and think I have it right only to find another change occurs during the day to upset my best laid plans!

Chris and I asked Forest to dial up the forecast on his 'dial up Internet connection' to review what he has been telling us. Yes, sure enough the weather has had another dramatic change and a 45 kt South Easter is due to hit D'Urville about 10 am next morning. Chris says 'OK Wally, we better be out of here at sun up tomorrow or we could get our aircraft tipped over!' ....so this is why he has put these wire ropes across the parking bay at D'Urville Island!

Buggar! There goes my relaxed fishing expedition on the return from a Motueka fly in! Good work though, to find this out before I get trapped!

Well, make the most of it and so we return back to the strip, Chris to continue painting his shed and me to get my fishing gear out of the Pelican and wander off to the beach to catch fish. Chris advises the tide may not be right 'as around the rocks is best'. Oh well who cares if the fish are biting or not. It's warm, fine and still enough daylight to enjoy the walk and have a go! Standing up to my waist in the warm incoming tide, I see that I am too late for 'around the rocks' on this trip so give it a go for about an hour then decide the mussels I have bought for bait, had better be kept for dinner. So back up to the strip to get the tent set up and my dinner on, I enjoy a quiet relaxing evening watching the sun setting slowly in the west and I have a glass or two of red wine as my new camp stove prepares another great outdoor feast.

What a great country this is for a Pelican pilot! Meeting interesting people, doing interesting things and seeing a New Zealand that most of us never get to experience.

Early to bed is the order of the day knowing an early start is planned for next morning. So crawling into the tent, I set my alarm (in case I don't wake up with the sun since the strip is in shadow in the lee of the mountains to the east of the strip) I shortly doze off to sleep until a call of nature occurs just after midnight that has me out of the tent, briefly...no wind ..good....

On returning to bed it seems I have let all the Greville Harbour mozzies in with me! Where did they come from? None here when I went to bed earlier in the night. ...So a fitful slumber marked the remaining darkness as I tried in vain to escape the roar of the mozzie bombers! That is, until I was awakened by the putter of a quad bike about an hour before dawn, puttering past my tent in the direction of the C172, parked just behind my Pelican. "What is Chris doing up so early?", I say to myself as I reach over to find my phone somewhere in the tent beside me. Yep, still an hour before the sun comes up. Well he has been good enough to introduce me to the wonders of D'Urville so I better get up and say 'cherio.' 'Sorry Wally, got up a couple of hours ago and couldn't get back to sleep so thought 'buggar, go and get ready to fly! sorry to wake you up!'. So there we were, the two of us untying our aircraft and packing up our gear, each with a light on our head not being able to see each other or anything in the dark apart from what we were directly looking at! Bloody hilarious like a couple of aliens from outer space!

Anyway, it was a good time to pack up and Chris was about a quarter of an hour ahead of me with his packing up so after a quick 'cherio see you again' he was warmed up and away, giving me an opportunity to take an iPad movie of his departure. Great things these iPads!
I was not long behind him and as we rose effortlessly into the calm early morning air, I was wondering how far away the gale was now. Smooth ride, not much drift so heading off across French Pass and the top of the Sounds - directly to Titahi Bay and home to Martinborough, I gradually observed the change in the ground speed and drift increasing from the south east. Lowering cloud and reducing visibility had me scanning the horizon ahead for a westbound 'lighty'...Paraparaumu to Nelson ...who was also making an early start....we didn't spot each other, but by abeam The Brothers, I now had a ground speed of 56 kts and about 40 degrees of drift on with plenty of white caps below. Wow! Still smooth but what's it going to be like crossing the Rimutuka Saddle? A quick check of Wellington ATIS says all still OK in Wellington with a 10 kts southerly on the surface and about 15 kts at 2000',  Titahi Bay gradually edged closer and the air still relatively smooth, I elected to proceed to the Saddle and found the air smoothed out crossing the coast encouraging me in my decision to continue.

A quick flight over the Rimutukas in relatively smooth air with little wind and ground speed increased to 80 kts, as I crossed the coast at Titahi Bay, I felt that the mission had been completed without incident and glad we had reviewed the weather the night before, with Forest, to allow us an early escape back home.

Chris had mentioned a hangi at D'Urville, for the DOC officer and his family, departing in April so that was penned into the possibilities for the next mission in the Pelican and Anne was surprised to find me back on the ground in Martinborough at 8 am and ready for the homeward car trip back to Wellington......Ahh, what another great flight (having left Wellington this morning on another 45 kts northerly gale, heading to the next adventure ...in Osh Kosh, has allowed me the time to finish this story)

Wally