Also a Good Day in the North

Today the Northern Aviators Club held their one-month-delayed BBQ flyin at Leo Johns' airstrip at Mata.  Mata is about the same distance from North Cape as Wanaka is from Bluff.  I was going to drive up through the the heavily damaged road over the Brynderwins and have to detour back through Paparoa but while walking the dog about 10 minutes before I was going to leave, I got a call from Paul Hopper and suddenly I was going to be flying there.  So out to Kaipara Flats with the BBQ supplies to await Paul's arrival: 

My ride to Mata arrives at NZKF - Paul's C 177B Cardinal ZK-DNX.

No struts to impede the view out towards Whangarei Heads with the sun reflecting off the water.

Leo had done a great job of mowing and the strip looked real good.

Pat Seuren flew his RV 12 ZK-EAA2 up from Waihi Beach and it looked great with the green dairying backdrop.  It is much greener in the North (but with slips), than at Wanaka.

Andrew Rossack lifts off in his tri-gear Maule MXT-7-180A ZK-RLT while Simon Lowther starts up his Cessna  120 ZK-BFK2 and the West Auckland Airport's Dyn Aero MCR 01 ZK-WIK waits.

The wind got up a bit and it had a cross wind component but Simon showed good airmanship to handle it.

That's a very un-Cessna profile.  Simon told me that his1947 built 120 is the oldest Cessna in New Zealand.

Somewhere out near Tauhoa on SH 16 was what appeared to be a tent city (click to enlarge)  - does anyone know what it is?

En route to NZKF just North of Kaipara Flats Village we flew over the Whangarei to Auckland rail line - you can see two bridges and a sharp curve before it heads into a tunnel (click twice to enlarge).

Back at NZKF after a couple of time shortening flights, Paul flew off back to North Shore.

Thanks very much for the flights Paul.