Honey Bebe Delivery Flight South (3)

After a good night's sleep (and a delicious meal) at Neville and Tessa Sutherland's lovely house which is only 2 minutes from the airfield, we drove to Omaka, paid the landing fee and hangar rent for 1 night at the Aero Club office and pulled Honey Bebe out into the sun.  It was another stunning day:

All part of the service!  Neville cleaning my windscreen.

I took off around 10.15 (on Thursday 2 July) for the continuation of my big adventure flying South.  It was the first time I had flown Honey Bebe in the South Island so there was a lack of familiarity with the lie of the land compared to the North Island.  Out of Omaka I climbed up and had to make some turns to get over the Taylor Pass which is at 1,000 feet and then I was flying across the Awatere Valley.

Lake Grassmere and the salt works in the distance.

Then on to the Kaikoura Coast - that is State Highway 1 and the railway just above the prop (click to enlarge).

Following the coast South, here near the Marlborough and Canterbury boundary.

Snow on the Seaward Kaikouras.

Getting nearer to Kaikoura and the coast is pretty rugged.

And we are at the Kaikoura Peninsula, the airfield is South of the town.

At Kaikoura airfield for 15 litres of Avgas, flight time from Omaka 1 hour 5 minutes.

Continuing on South from Kaikoura in lovely conditions.  SH 1 has gone inland but the railway sticks near the coast - you can see it just above the nose (click to enlarge if you want o see it better).

On past the Conway Flat area.  Obviously I was in IFC mode.

A good check point is the mouth of the Waiau River.  Time for a radio position report.

Past Gore Bay and the Cathedral Cliffs.  Wonderful views!

Past the settlement of Motunau, and nearly at the Northern Canterbury Plains.  Look how calm the sea was. 

When you get to the plains change frequency to the Rangiora CFZ at Amberly and follow the beach.

Until you get to the mouth of the Ashley River (radio position call) and follow the river up to Rangiora airfield.

I landed on Runway 07 at Rangiora to be met by Dave Paull and he took the photo. Then we went into town for an posh artisinal pie.  Flight time from Kaikoura to Rangiora was 1 hour 10 minutes.

I did fly on South from Rangiora later in the afternoon but I will leave posting about that until next time as it proved to be a somewhat "interesting" flight.

Honey Bebe Delivery Flight South (2)

In the morning of Wednesday 1 July Wayne picked me up and took me out to the airfield where the sun was again shining brightly.  I phoned the Ohakea Tower to enquire about the status of the Raumai live firing range and was told that it was active but would be finished before I arrived there around 11 am.  They advised to listen to the Ohakea Flight Information Service on 124.5 after I passed Wanganui to check on the Raumai status.  Then it was time to go and I took off around 10.15 am:

Wayne took this neat video of my take off from Stratford (you can click to enlarge it).  When you watch it do not be fooled by the lack of climb performance as when I lift off at around 30 knots or so I keep the plane level and low until the speed builds up to 50 knots which is what I climb out at.

Good bye Mount Taranaki.  Wayne advised to follow the power lines South to the coast which is what I did.

On the coast near Waverly, past the wind farm and with the Waiototara River up ahead.

Looking down on Wanganui.  I climbed up to 2,000 feet here to be above the circuit height on Wanganui Airport which is busy these days with the NZ Airline Academy flying school on the airport.

And here is the airport.

As advised I tuned to 124.5 and listened to the Ohakea Flight Information Service who advised that the Raumai live firing range was not active, so I was not blown out of the sky!  This photo is inside the firing range and I flew at 1,000 feet down the rest of the Manawatu coastline.

Until I arrived at Foxton which is up ahead, and landed at Foxpine for fuel.

Taxiing in at Foxpine.  Thanks to Simon Hills for the photos on the ground.  Thanks also to Dave Stuart who also met me and drove me to he nearby Mobil station where I bought 20 litres of 98 octane fuel.  Foxpine is where ZK-KMM first flew, with test pilot Stuart Tantrum on 15 January 1984 - that is 42 and a half years ago!

I think I got a slight bit of carb icing coming into Foxpine, but to feel safer I checked and set the tappets while I was on the ground (I had bought tools with me but forgot the feeler gauge! - thanks again Dave).  Then I was all set to go with Cook Strait ahead.

A benign sea and sky climbing out of Foxpine with the coast curving up towards Wanganui.

I headed South down the coast and photo'd Kapiti Island on my way past.

Looking down on Paraparaumu and the airport.  A nice lady in the tower advised me of QNH and I advised her of my position as I flew by.  An aircraft took off as I was nearby but I was well clear.

Then down past Paekakariki and on to Porirua City with Plimmerton and Paremata in the foreground.

The coastline gets decidedly rougher down towards Makara and there are a lot of wind turbines.

Goodbye North Island!

The conditions over Cook Strait were excellent with almost no wind as you can see in the photo.  This is what I had expected with the big high sitting over New Zealand.  But there was a lens of cloud in the middle of the Strait at 1,500 feet that I had to fly under.  Otherwise I flew at around 2,000 feet to keep below the Wellington Airport control zone.

Getting nearer to the South Island.  This was the 39th time that the aircraft that I had built had flown across Cook Strait!  (The other 38 were flown by Paul Legg).

Then I flew down the seaward side of the Marlborough Sounds which was quite spectacular.

This is Port Underwood which is a sound off the open sea.

Then finally I got to the flat land where the Wairau Valley meets the sea.  This is over Rarangi Beach with the Wairau Diversion Channel up ahead (not to be confused with the Wairau River Estuary).

I landed at Omaka around 4 pm to be met by fellow Jodel D9 owner and friend Neville Sutherland.  We topped Honey Bebe up with Avgas and tucked her away in the Marlborough Aero Club hangar for the night.

I had flown Honey Bebe for 1 hour 10 minutes from Stratford to Foxpine and 1 hour 35 minutes from Foxpine to Omaka.  Another great day of flying!

Honey Bebe Delivery Flight South (1)

As some blog readers may know, I have been trying unsuccessfully to sell my Jodel D9 Bebe  ZK-KMM "Honey Bebe" for more than a year.  Maybe this was because she is hand started (prop swung) and doesn't have brakes, but that is as I built her 43 years ago and she turned out to be really lovely to fly.  So as I had decided to finish my pilot-in-command flying career what to do with her?  I investigated donating her to a museum but that didn't seem hopeful for various reasons.  Then I talked to Russell Brodie who told me that they would be delighted to have her and fly her at Rangitata Island where the sport of flying is very strong.  So that is what I decided to do.

That bought up the question of how to get her from Warkworth to South Canterbury and the obvious answer was to fly her down there.  She was ready to go with a fresh oil change and and what I needed was a favourable weather window.  And that is what I saw on the weather forecast on Monday 29 June - a very strong high was going to be parked over the country for 4 or 5 days so I quickly decided to head off the next day.  I packed a change of clothes and a warm jersey and gloves and some basic tools as well as a 5 litre fuel container and funnel for refueling when I had to use Mogas.  I had pre-planned the flight in my head and also carried an AOPA map book of the country as well as notes for the aerodromes I would land at, and these enabled me to set off with no electronic aids and navigate by dead reckoning following coasts, rivers and roads (IFC and IFR).

So I set off from Kaipara Flats airfield at 11.00 am on Tuesday 30 June bound for Te Kowhai and Stratford under blue skies and with light winds:

Flying down the beach off Woodhill Forest after crossing the Kaipara Harbour - on my way!

Past Piha and Lion Rock.

And on across the Manukau Heads under 1500 feet.

Then cut across to the Glenbrook Steel Mill which is a good landmark, with a slight wind on the nose.

Then the I Follow Rivers bit down the Waikato River.

And when you get to Huntly change to Black Sands frequency for Te Kowhai.

Brien O'Brien and Steve Woodhead flew down to Te Kowhai to see me off and here I am ready to start the next leg of my journey.  Thanks guys.

Take off from Te Kowhai.  Thanks to Steve Woodhead for the photos.

I flew South of Mt Pirongia and out to the West Coast at the Kawhia Harbour.  That is the Aotea Harbour and Mount Karioi in the distance.

Over the Southern part of the Kawhia Harbour.  The small settlement in the middle of the photo is Te Waitere I think.  A very remote village.

The West Coast black sands coastline is pretty rugged.

More cliffs with more black sands as we head South.

Then Mokau off the wing which is a good landmark.

Getting there now, about to fly past the spectacular White Cliffs just South of Tongaporutu.

Finally I cut inland after the White Cliffs to stay clear of the New Plymouth control zone and aim for Mount Taranaki.  Keep this up with New Plymouth out to starboard for reference until you cross State Highway 3 then turn left and follow the highway to Stratford.  

My flight times were 1 hour 35 minutes to Te Kowhai and 1 hour 45 minutes to Stratford.  The sun was getting a bit low when I arrived to be met by Wayne Richmond who had overhauled my VW motor all those years ago.  Thanks for your help Wayne.  After topping up with Avgas we put Honey Bebe away in Wayne's hangar which was great because there was quite a frost overnight (Stratford is nearly 1,000 feet above sea level) and there still wasn't a cloud in the sky.