My trip to New Plymouth didn't turn out quite as I had planned; my internet connection was tenuous so I couldn't blog and my Mum ended up in hospital for a couple of weeks. On the plus side I was very blessed by the weather gods with fabulous sunny weather and left much fitter after daily bike rides and lots of walking.
My flights back to Rakiura on Tuesday were superb; I had a window seat for the early-morning New Plymouth to Christchurch leg and watched the sun's rays hitting the top of Mt Taranaki as we flew past. There were only 14 passengers on this flight with most of us having window seats to enjoy the view.
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| Waving goodbye to New Plymouth |
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| First light on Mt Taranaki |
Then on to the South Island with spectacular views of snowy ranges and foggy lakes - the beauty of Aotearoa is especially breathtaking at altitude.
Invercargill was brilliantly sunny and the air crystal-clear for the flight to Rakiura in the 6-seater
Piper Cherokee Six; we had great views of the island - a dab of snow on Hananui's peak (Mt Anglem), stunning beaches and clear waters; I was sitting over the wing so couldn't look for whales - apparently a southern right mother and calf were seen nearby last Sunday.
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| Invercargill Airport on a superb Spring day |
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| Northern coastline of Rakiura |
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| Looking across to Paterson Inlet in the distance |
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Almost there - my section ringed in red and the airstrip at the top with the
heliport in between the two; the oxidation ponds are on the right |
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Gee it's great to be back home - the thermometer on my ranchslider
recorded a maximum of 26°C for the day |
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| Kiwi footprints to welcome me home |
So, it's now back to work and a much slower pace of life than city living - more about that in my next blog!
