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Posted By:
Hal Brown
Date Posted:
Apr 18, 2011
Description:
Christmas day dawned as it traditionally does: cold and windy. But wait! It was supposed to be summer Downunder. Fifty nine degrees F made it feel like it was about to snow.
The Huka Falls resort allowed helicopter access, but the SeaRey pilot opted out. The passengers did too. With a forecast for severe turbulence, they took the helicopter to move south.
Date Taken:
Apr 18, 2011
Place Taken:
Huka Falls, NZ
Owner:
Dan Nickens
File Name:
Exclusive_Parking.jpg - Photo HTML
Full size - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZP7P0000h">
Medium - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZP7P0000m">
Thumbnail - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZP7P0000s">
Category:
446, Yacht Tending NZ
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Read what others had to say:
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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This approach to the resort may not intimidate helicopter pilots, but it did this SeaRey pilot. The Maori call this Hukanui, “Great Body of Spray.” It is where water spills from Lake Taupo and turns into the Waikato River. Though its current is full of plenty of spray now, during a volcanic eruption water cataclysmically exits in magnitudes closer to biblical floods.
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Dicey Water
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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A big yellow and red sign and the airport indicated a high level of Didymo risk! What! Local terrorists? A Maori uprising? Why wasn’t I briefed on this?<br /><br />A quick check of the Internet found sufficient cause for concern: an invasion of snotty algae. Jeez. The “snotty algae”, Didymosphenia geminata is really a diatom that forms large, nasty mats in warm shallow water. It turns out this destructive pest is turning up in North American lakes too. How does it migrate? On the felt soles of shoes! (I’m not making this up….really.) Bans on felt fishing shoes are planned in Maryland, Vermont and Alaska. Time to sell soft sole shoe stocks?<br />
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SPA Forum on Didymo
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Risk Ignorance
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Don Maxwell - Apr 18,2011
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Dan, is that the gooky stuff that has been taking over Lake Winnebago, at Oshkosh?
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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Didn't ya no it's Didymo all over, Don? What kinda shoes did you wear to Oshkosh last time?
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Don Maxwell - Apr 18,2011
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Shoes?
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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Despite the weather briefer’s warning of turbulence aloft, the SeaRey launched shortly after the helicopter. The bumpy flight past “Mordor”, or “Mount Doom”, was a good omen for a Christmas Day. The view was spectacular and the turbulence not at all severe.<br /><br />Mt. Ngauruhoe is one of three volcanoes southwest of Lake Taupo. They are the stars of Tongariro National Park, established long ago in 1887. The park land was donated by the Maori as the only way to protect an area considered to be a spiritual place. It’s spiritual because a great Maori chief was not a great navigator and got lost in the pre-park place. He called on the gods to provide warmth. Not knowing to be careful what he asked for, the gods sent him a lot of volcanoes.<br /><br /><br />Mt. Doom is a relatively young at 2500 years old. Its last lava flow was in 1954. It did blow off ash and some lava stones in the 1970s. There was a brief scare in 2006 when it started rumbling. Since then it has gone back to sleep.<br /><br />The conical shape of Mt. Ngauruhoe is typical of stratovolcanoes. The steep slope is a result of frequent explosive eruptions of high viscosity lava that quickly solidifies near the source. Krakatoa and Vesuvius are also stratovolcanoes. <br /><br />After providing heat for the Maori Chief, the volcanoes have not done a lot a good. Like Vesuvius, a neighbor of Mt. Doom spread death and destruction to nearby residents. On Christmas Eve in 1945 the water level in Mt. Ruapehu’s crater lake overwhelmed a dam and massive flow of volcanic mud (a “lahar”) took out a railroad bridge downstream. When the express train arrived a few minutes later 153 people died. There was another moderate lahar in 2007. Figuring the odds, I decided against taking the SeaRey into the 9,000’ high crater lake.<br />
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Mount Doom
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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With some low clouds hanging around, it was just easier to follow a river to a coast. The Rangitikei River was headed my way. Sorta. In a roundabout kinda way. Despite its sheer “paapa” cliffs of clay, there looked to be plenty of emergency havens for SeaReys.
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Slipping Downstream
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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Sheep are welcome everywhere in New Zealand, including the Fielding aerodrome. I’m guessing it cuts down on the mowing.<br /><br />They were the only action at the airport. No one else was around. As I ate a Christmas lunch snack under the wing, the local pilots were likely sitting around a crowded table with their families. Sigh. Well, fair trade. Maybe next year.<br />
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Sharing the Field
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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Go to coast. Turn left. Easy to navigate in New Zealand. Ah, what a great day to be at the beach! Merry Christmas, indeed!
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Turning Coastal
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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Not everyone was having a happy holiday. Some days are bad even at the beach.
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Beach Bound
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Don Maxwell - Apr 18,2011
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The tide will go out and then they'll be fine. Yes?
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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Could be, Don, but who knows what the tides will wash away? I didn't stick around long enough to find out.
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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It was a great day to be over the beach in a SeaRey. This was the only airplane I saw all day.
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Not Beach Bound
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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The miles long great curving beach got pretty thin in places after Paraparumu.
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Not Much Beach
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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To get to the South Island I had to go right through the wind funnel that is Cook Straight. I was forewarned of the hazardous winds and waters. The winds were good to me, blowing from the South Island instead of through the strait. I don’t know about the waters. I didn’t try them.<br /><br />At its narrowest, the channel is fourteen miles wide. It is as much as 400’ deep. It was dry land during the last ice age.<br />
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Crossing Over
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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Oceans, crustal plates, wind, currents….they all collide in the channel. The strait is notorious for its wicked waters. Not only do the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean meet here, tides on either side of the strait are almost completely out of phase. Add the rough sea bottom extending out from Marlborough Sounds and eddies can be ferocious. It was good to stay above all the excitement.
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Clashing Masses
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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Crossed the Straits. Of course. No worries. Not a hitch. Despite the briefer’s warning. Despite the AIP’s written warning. N609MK made an uneventful crossing. Good girl, MK.<br /><br />In Fiji, MK and I were just getting acquainted. There were others flying her. In NZ it was just the two of us. She is glitter, with her glass cockpit and her fancy trim, but she has guts.<br /><br />After the crossing, it was a relief to head into the protected waters of Marlborough Sound.<br />
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Into the Sound
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John Robert Dunlop - Apr 18,2011
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Dan, your camera's eye certainly hasn't lost its touch this trip!<br />Have these photos just been sleeping in a pile for four months?!!
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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Maybe not, John, but the camera was lost (along with its touch) for some time now.....but that's a story for later installment.
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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A long island named Long Island? I suppose there can be any number of Long Islands in the world. This was definitely the antithesis of the one in New York.<br /><br />Maori legend attributes Marborough Sounds to a sunken canoe. Three brothers, sons of the Sky Father, decided to canoe around the Earth Mother. The canoe foundered on a reef. They managed to climb on top but were frozen by a south wind and turned to stone. The tallest son became the tallest peak on the South Island, Aoraki. Long Island sorta looks like a canoe prow, right?<br />
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Aptly Named
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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Flying has its risks. Driving on the twisting, winding roads of New Zealand rises to whole ‘nother level. Off the street, the natives are the nicest people on the planet. They turn into road warriors when they get into wheeled vehicles. Anyone who has seen how wild the Kiwi drivers are would be terrified to meet them on these roads. I only got this close because Marlborough Sounds seaplane base was right around one of the many corners.
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Coastal Roads
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Martin West - Apr 19,2011
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Dan, you are so right - they can be absolute nutters! The ones that used to worry me up in the far north were the logging trucks and Fonterra milk tankers. Also, and this will seem incredulous, there is NO legal requirement to have vehicle insurance. That's right, you can legally drive without insurance. Its estimated that 3/10 cars are not insured. Despite that, our Toyota station wagon still only cost us less than NZ$300 a year for any driver over 21 - and that was full coverage.
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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X marks the spot: the west end of Queen Charlotte Sound.
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X Marks
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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The drowned river valleys of the Sound offered lots of protected parking places for SeaReys.
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Protected Parking
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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I hadn’t expected to find the boat in all the little bays that it could be hiding in. Instead, it found me. I got the call and the coordinates, only to find the boat parked in Squally Bay, Croisilles Harbour. That didn’t sound promising, but it was good on this day.<br /><br />There was no work to be found at the boat. Instead the crew was celebrating with “Christmas Crackers”: a throw away toy that pops when you pull on it.<br />
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Back to Work
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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Flight crew were staying on shore in Nelson. After a short visit with the boaters, we left to find our landlocked beds. Along the way multiple beaching opportunities presented themselves between the rocks. They would have to wait another day for exploration.
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Beaching Opportunities
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Philip Mendelson - Apr 19,2011
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Beautiful scenery, thanks for the sharing......
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Dan Nickens - Apr 18,2011
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The port at Nelson was advertised as first class. This part looked first class for airboats. I was glad to be headed to the airport at the end of an excellent Christmas day. What better present could one get than the gift of flight!
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Port Parking
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Ross Vining - Apr 19,2011
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Dan<br />Great set of pics and story - I really enjoyed it. thank you for putting in the effort to <br />construct it into a story/journey. Did you get down into Fiordland (south west half of south <br />Island)? There is some truly spectacular flying to had down there.
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Dan Nickens - Apr 19,2011
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Now, Ross, you'll just have to wait and see, mate. This story isn't done yet!
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