Up, Up and Away

Our Chariot

Flying used to be considered by Megan, by far the worst thing ever invented by man.  When we went to Paris for our 10^th wedding anniversary, entering the plane door was akin to going into the dragons den for her.  Well here we are, a few years later and when asked if she wanted to sit next to the pilot on a small, a very small, a very, very small (6 seats including the pilot himself – who incidentally looked 12 years old) plane, she was jumping up and down like a 12 year old herself saying oh yes please may I, what a turn around!

Co Pilot Megan

Our 'Home' from the Air

Golden Bay Airline flew us across the straits between the South and North Islands of New Zealand. The flight was brilliant; we only flew at about seven thousand feet, and the day was very clear so we had a great view of the ground below – when we were over ground anyway.  We flew over Golden Bay Hideaway, our last Helpx place and could see all the holiday lets; Rata Camp where we had lived for the previous 3 weeks, also the shed, nerve centre of the operation could be clearly seen from the air.

Take off was interesting, all the bumps were felt that you would normally miss in a bigger plane, and the turns tight and steep as only a small plane could do.  I thought Meg would be feeling a little worried but when I looked around behind me she was all smiles and eagerly looking out of the window.  At the end of the flight (we didn’t land at Wellington Airport as the weather there had closed in and in fact not one flight landed there all day) the pilot did a lovely turn around the airstrip at Paraparaumu to give us all a good view of the target and then let her down as soft as a feather pillow.

Farewell Spit

John was there to meet us with his girlfriend, Glenys, all of you who have been reading this blog (if there is anyone out there) will remember John, he is Raewyn’s (my brother Mark’s wife) dad and he spent 2 weeks on the Greek islands with us last June, that seems so long ago now.  He whisked us off to spend 3 nights with them in Waikanai near Wellington, which we visited.  We then moved onto Auckland and couch surfed with a young family for 3 nights.  Both cities certainly need more time than we spent there, so a return trip to New Zealand seems to be needed as we only scratched the surface of the country.

Cable Car in Wellington

Feeding 'Friends' at the Cafe

Delayed Christmas Dinner with John and Glenys

Auckland

Auckland

Beer O'Clock

Where are we now then?  Well we have returned to Western Australia to spend some more time with Mark and Raewyn, top up our sunshine time, before making the last hop back to the UK.

Land of the Long White Cloud