Mini Tour of NZ

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Last weekend, CHC/ZQN, QF served mini caramel filled muffins with the water .. each way ... :)
 
If you were doing it this weekend, you wouldn't have been on QF. Saturday's flight was cancelled and pax put on NZ.
 
QUEENSTOWN to AUCKLAND (ZQN-AKL) on NZ 737-300

Despite flying this route several times on Qantas this was the first time with Air NZ. All my Air NZ flights to/from Queenstown have been via Christchurch.

Since my last visit to Queenstown a month ago the 2 gate lounges have been combined in to one (slightly smaller than the combined sizes when they were separate) and the available seating cut to less than half. As the schedules often have 2 737s and an ATR flight all leaving around the same time, the new gate lounge is woefully inadequate in my view. Another reason to wait as long as possible before going through security.

Speaking of which, Queenstown airport is a bit of an anomaly for domestic airports. For NZ's regulations require jets (or more strictly aircraft over a certain number of seats which happens to coincide with jet/prop split) to have WTMDs and screening while props do not. At most airports either all aircraft are props, or they have separate gates with screening for the prop flights. At Queenstown there are limited number of gates and thus all flights get screened whether needed or not.

With the gate lounges being combined there are now 2 WTMDs available for use. Despite this, and despite having (at least) 6 security staff on duty, only 1 WTMD is being used today. A lot of people standing around doing not a lot :(

Anyway, with Qantas' flight being cancelled again lots of passengers transferred across and we have a full flight and another small delay for departure.

The sun shines brightly nearby Remarkable Ranges, shimmering silver thanks to the extensive mica and schist rock formations. We take off with a 270 degree pirouette around the peninsula before heading over the Southern Alps. With the cloud cover we only get glimpses of the Mount Cook region below and then not much at all until close to landing.

There is a moderate amount of turbulence but not too bad.
 
AUCKLAND to CHRISTCHURCH (AKL-CHC) on NZ 737-300

Another day, yet more travel to be done. Another couple of previously unflown domestic routes, plus a new international destination (at least new flying Air NZ), several different aircraft types, several different lounges.

Again I set off in the early darkness for the airport, have a walk, check in and play the blocked seat lottery (is the lack of available forward seats to select due to flight being full or due to blocked middle seat for elites?), clear security and up to the lounge. Oh and I spend some time on the observation deck watching the comings and goings - all international flights at this time of day. Some very early departures, which I'm glad not to be on today.

I grab breakfast and check email and FT. The computers seem even slower today. The flight is full. As with yesterday extensive cloud cover most of the way. We hit some unexpected turbulence with a couple of big stomach churning drops over north Canterbury. The patchy very low cloud around Christchurch delays our arrival as there is greater than normal separation between flights.

This time I remembered to get a sweet at the time of the drink service.

In marked contrast to Christchurch yesterday it is a chilly autumnal day and almost 20C colder - brrr.
 
CHRISTCHURCH to NELSON (CHC-NSN) on NZ Saab 340

After a while spend in the warm lounge it is time to brave the cold outside to cross the tarmac and board the next flight of the day. The flight is fairly empty so I have room to spread out and put my bag in an empty seat rather than trying to jam it into the tiny overhead bin or take up my legroom.

Most of the very low cloud has dissipated and so beneath the high cloud we have views across the plains to the hills and mountains. As we fly north we pass through this cloud. This is a shame as I'd been looking forward to this flight, for much of the way is over mountain ranges and valleys. On the Nelson side we break free of the cloud just before we reach the small plain. We do a sharp low altitude 180 degree turn just off Tahunanui Beach, the wingtip seemingly just a few metres off the water, before flying over the golf course and landing back into the strong wind. We are buffetted around a lot and so the landing is rather rough.

When we park up outside the terminal the FA waits several minutes for the propellers to stop turning before realising the wind is strong enough to keep them going around. The aircraft is rocking on the ground, and this motion causes me to mis-step coming down the stairs. I avoided a nasty tumble but got a bruised shin for my efforts.
 
NELSON to PALMERSTON NORTH (NSN-PMR) on NZ Beech 1900D operated by Vincent Aviation

I got the code for the lounge, and headed there to escape the overcrowded terminal. Eek the lounge is standing room only. So I head outside instead. The terminal isnt large enough to cope with several flights in a short interval - a couple each to Wellington & Christchurch, one to Auckland, Palmerston North and Hamilton. The strong wind obliterates the PA so I head back inside 5 minutes or so before I expected boarding to be announced.

We board 5 minutes before departure. The pax in front of me has gone to the wrong aircraft on the tarmac - good job this was spotted. This flight confused me a little when I checked in, for the seatmap matched the Beech 1900D and not the Beech 1900C that I was expecting (all my other flights with Vincent Aviation have been on 1900C). I wondered if, since the time of booking, the flight had reverted to Air NZ's subsidiary Eagle Air which has Beech 1900D. So I selected a seat that I'd be happy with on either aircraft just in case.

While waiting for the pilots to complete their checks and ground crew to do their things, the aircraft was rocking violently in the wind. A couple of passengers went green even before we started taxiing.

We take off and have a bumpy flight along the eastern ranges, past D'Urville Island and across Cook Strait. In Manawatu the cloud cover is patchy creating an irregular pattern of shadows superimposed on the more regular pattern of fields. Quite hypnotic effect. We fly low over the city and have a very rough landing - so much so that I tensed myself ready to brace if needed.
 
PALMERSTON NORTH to AUCKLAND (PMR-AKL) on NZ ATR 72-500

I've reported on this route recently so will keep this short.

This is my fourth flight today (so far), fourth different aircraft type, and fourth airline. (This is despite all flights having NZ flight numbers - for the 737 flight was Air NZ mainline, Saab 340 was Air Nelson, Beech 1900D was Vincent Aviation, ATR 72-500 was Mount Cook Airlines - only Eagle Air for Beech 1900D and Zeal320 for A320 are missing.)

The flight was rather bumpy all the way. Again rocking on the tarmac while waiting to start. Flight was totally full and delayed leaving. Lost further time due to headwinds.

For the next flight today, head over to a warm embrace of the tropics.
 
FLYING TOUR OF NEW ZEALAND

Continuing with the increasingly badly titled mini tour of New Zealand I pause for a moment of indulgence.

After lots and lots of international travel in the past few years, my schedule for 2007 was looking like I wouldn’t be able to fit much longhaul travel in. Don’t get me wrong, I still expect to do quite a bit by non-FT standards – say 2 or 3 round the world trips plus some other trips, however this is well down on the past few years. Instead my schedule currently suits short domestic trips.

Having recently flown to the last few of the 26 domestic destinations served by a major airline in New Zealand, I decided to set myself a new goal – to fly all 50 current domestic routes. I had previously flown quite a few of them, but the network schedules will pose some challenges to fit into my time constraints (as well as booking engine constraints) – particularly the routes served only once a day.

While I will collect a modest amount of mileage thanks to sector minimums, this is not a mileage run. Fare rules in New Zealand do not permit routings other than the most direct possible, and the cheapest domestic fares on Air New Zealand are non-mileage earning (with Qantas only having 6, soon to be 5, routes almost all flights are on Air New Zealand).

The current routes are listed below, and I’ll mark them off as I go.

From/To Auckland

From/To Hamilton

From/To Wellington
  • WLG-WRE not yet flown (Wellington – Whangarei)
  • WLG-HLZ first flown years ago (Wellington - Hamilton)
  • WLG-TRG first flown 2007 (Wellington – Tauranga)
  • WLG-ROT not yet flown (Wellington – Rotorua)
  • WLG-TUO first flown 2007 (Wellington – Taupo)
  • WLG-GIS first flown 2007 (Wellington – Gisborne)
  • WLG-NPE first flown years ago (Wellington - Napier / Hastings)
  • WLG-NPL first flown 2007 (Wellington – New Plymouth)
  • WLG-WAG first flown 2007 (Wellington – Wanganui)
  • WLG-PMR not yet flown (Wellington – Palmerston North)
  • WLG-BHE first flown years ago, and again in 2007 (Wellington - Blenheim)
  • WLG-NSN first flown years ago, and again in 2007 (Wellington - Nelson)
  • WLG-WSZ first flown 2006 (Wellington - Westport)
  • WLG-CHC first flown years ago, and again in 2006 (Wellington - Christchurch)
  • WLG-TIU first flown 2006 (Wellington - Timaru)
  • WLG-DUD first flown 2006 (Wellington - Dunedin)

From/To Nelson

From/To Christchurch
 
Qantas / Jetconnect unreliability

A break from my usual format to give an example of Qantas / Jetconnect unreliability. From my experience of hundreds of domestic flights in NZ, Qantas (or rather NZ subsidiary Jetconnect) is rather less reliable than Air NZ. If I have to be somewhere at a certain time, or connect to an overseas flight, I fly Air NZ or pad in several hours into the schedule to allow for delays. That isn't to say there are always delays. However, with Qantas there is a much, much higher chance of delay than with Air NZ (up to 50% QF vs under 10% NZ).

There are a few reasons I think. One is that Qantas only has a few aircraft flying domestic on any given day (roughly half their current fleet is utilised on secondary trans-tasman flights and the other half on domestic NZ flights). So any problems that arise have a tendency to compound.

Secondly, NZ's weather is such that from time to time disruptions occur. This affects Air NZ also. However proportionately there is a bigger effect on Qantas - not only less aircraft available standing by to take up any slack, but also Qantas has a higher proportion of their flights into / out of Queenstown which is the main problem airport. Queenstown airport is surrounded by mountains (flying in to Queenstown is one of the best routes anywhere as thread through the valleys on approach) and thus is restricted at night time and also when clouds are low. To a lesser extent the other airports served by Qantas (Christchurch, Wellington, Rotorua and Auckland) can be closed by fog, Wellington can be closed in severe winds, and Christchurch and Auckland in severe thunderstorms.

Enough of the background lesson. I was taking a round trip between Auckland and Queenstown. This was partly using up 2 flights held over from last year when on a trip Queenstown flights were cancelled (combination of weather and running out of crew hours). I had the choice of ridiculously low credit or refund (something like $10), or fly those sectors another time, which of course I chose. Unfortunately Qantas would only let me rebook in the original booking class (unless I applied it as the small credit)

As I arrive at the Auckland domestic Qantas Club I found out that earlier in the day Christchurch had some fog, which soon cleared. Nonetheless 2 aircraft were impacted (one from CHC the other from AKL). The one from AKL was unfortunately the one I would be later flying on (due to the small number of aircraft and flights it is relatively straight forward to track progress of an aircraft through the day, except when they swap equipment).

The online arrival and departure were showing this aircraft as flying AKL-(WLG unscheduled)-CHC-ZQN-CHC-ROT-CHC-ZQN-CHC-AKL. I was to fly the bolded bit. One thing that I find a bit silly with the online arrival and departure data is that delays are not propagating through the rest of the day. So have silly cases where can see an aircraft is due in to CHC say at 1100 and depart at 1040. Clearly not possible. But if not savvy enough with the schedules a first glance would make the second flight appear as on time.

So I see the aircraft is running about 1.5 hours late. I was booked on a different flight back from Christchurch, which I projected to be about 0.5 hours late (at this stage). This means either I'd misconnect or flight would need to be held for me and anyone else making that connection.

I asked the lounge agent if I could be rebooked onto the same aircraft's flight CHC-AKL in order to be protected. After some checking it seems the flight was full but I was put on waitlist. With my status, and the likelihood passengers would be shuffled between the 2 flights I was reasonably confident I would clear the waitlist. This later proved to be the case, with status passengers flying CHC-AKL (only) on the significantly delayed flight moved across to the less delayed flight, freeing up space for me to be moved in the other direction.

So far so good. As time passed (in AKL and again in CHC) I monitored the situation. The delays crept out. So the next question was whether we would get to Queenstown or fail to make the curfew. Qantas got all the passengers at the gate ready for a rapid turnaround, abandoned cleaning the aircraft and got everyone off the inbound flight and completed boarding for the outbound in under 15 minutes. There was an anxious few minutes while they completed paperwork. This took us right until the go / no go time I'd been told earlier.

We took off into the setting sun. We must have had more power applied than normal for despite there being no tailwind we shaved off several minutes from the normal flight time on this relatively short sector.

On landing at Queenstown there was a flurry of activity from all the ground staff - they are normally very laid back. Trying to beat the approaching darkness so we wouldn't be stranded there (I can think of much worse places to be stranded but I did really need to get back to Auckland that night). Murphy's Law prevailed. We had 2 wheelchair passengers and another with crutches - this at an airport that only has stairs so a slow process to deplane.

I had just enough time to pick up the stuff I'd come for, and back through security to the gate. Boarding had already started but I was glad I didn't hold up the flight.

The sun had already gone as we taxiied and I was a bit stressed that we weren't going to make it. (I had another trip to Queenstown where cloud descended while we taxiied and we ended up taxiing back to the terminal.) Turn at the end of the runway and immediately gunned back down it. As we climb the skies darkened - the Southern Alps and other surrounding mountains make for a short dusk. Phew just made it.

Coming in to Christchurch the city lights were partly obscured by dense fog patches. The fog from the previous night had settled off the coast during the day and returned with the cool of evening - albeit returning rather earlier than forecast. Would we be able to land? At this stage I wasn't too worried, thinking if we couldn't the alternative would be to fly to Wellington and head to Auckland from there (most likely first thing the next morning). Fortunately the airport runways were just clear enough to land - conveniently the thicker fog was over some taxiways and not the runway. This was surreal. Parts of the airport obscured and other bits clear, even over very short distances.

While in transit the fog thickened and delays continued (they finally cleaned the aircraft and recatered). So now wondering if we'll get out tonight. We had a very slow taxi out to the runway, during which the pilot comes on to announce the conditions are still just good enough to take off. The lights were on high - the fog glowing around us, yet still could not see much out the side windows other than the taxiway and side runway lights. Hopefully they could see more out the front!

So successfully completed my flights and less than 2 hours late. It could have been worse. The lounge staff were brilliant, even following up on the waitlist status for me and keeping me informed. Refreshingly they didn't BS about the delays, realising that I realised the expected arrival and departure times on the website and lounge monitors where a load of rubbish. Cabin crew were also good.

But, I checked out how Air NZ did on the same day. They had a few flights delayed an hour, but seemed to recover time during the day. Qantas generally lost more time as the day wore on (except the last flight was fast, as it often is and made up 20 minutes).

I've had lots of trips without significant delays, but my track record with Qantas domestic is not good. As shown in this little report, service recovery can vary between excellent (yesterday) and bad (the aborted trip referred to last year).
 
Thanks Kiwi Flyer. Your report reminds me of a flying kiwi camping tour BlacknoxTB and I took two years ago. Started in Nelson (great fish & chips on the boardwalk under the palm trees) and finished in Queenstown. Ahhhrrr, I need a holiday ...
 
AUCKLAND to CHRISTCHURCH (AKL-CHC) on NZ 737

Another day, another few more new routes plus connecting flights. Again an early start out to the airport in the dark. I'm on the earliest domestic flight. When I arrive there are quite a few passengers connecting from the early international arrivals milling around waiting for security to open.

The quick check machine touchscreen doesn't seem to be working so I head to the *G / Koru Club queue. A small wait and I'm soon checked in. Only the first 4 boarding passes get printed automatically - so I ask for the remaining ones. I'm dismayed with the pre-allocated seats on some flights.

NZ has recently extended the OLCI trial from main trunk flights to all domestic flights. Unlike most airlines, OLCI can be done any time once booked - yes even 11 months before departure. Most booking engines do not allow pre-selection of domestic seats (except on international tickets), and few people bothered to call Air NZ to request specific seats on domestic flights. This old system thus worked well for elites - always got a forward seat and if load is light enough I'd get seat blocking too. When the OLCI launch was announced I tried to OLCI for this flight, but the system could not retrieve my booking :rolleyes: I had similar problems during the trial for main trunk routes.

Today are my first NZ flights since OLCI opened to all flights. Hopefully it is just coincidence but it is not a good start. I ask if I can be re-seated and told those are the best seats currently available.

I head over to the Qantas terminal to stretch my legs while waiting for security to open up, and to meet up with serfty.

Once security is open I head to the lounge, where I have just enough time to catch up on emails before the flight is called.

The load is light (maybe 70%) so seat blocking is in effect for elites ^ The IFE which is supposed to be playing on 737 flights of an hour or longer is not played at all. Also there is no announcement made about buy on board (tea coffee water and lolly are free), catching some passengers unawares when the trolley comes down the aisle.

Despite some cloud mainly to the west of us, it is a magnificent day for flying. Great views in the soft early morning light. The Marlborough and nothern Canterbury Hills in particular throwing great patterns in the shadows.

We hit some bad turbulence in clear skies descending over the plains. It seems the nor'wester is picking up today - an ominous sign for my onward flights. In the final approach, the low sun angle highlights the sinuous paths traced by old riverbeds. What from the ground and higher altitudes appears as a pancake flat landscape is revealed to be hundreds of built up and worn down riverbeds criss-crossing their way down from the mountains to the sea.
 
CHRISTCHURCH to ROTORUA (CHC-ROT) on NZ ATR 72-500

Since I have a bit more time in between flights I turn the corner from the gate and into the lounge (what a surprise!). Only one of the 3 computers seems to be working so I let the lounge agent know and grab a coffee while I wait for the computer to come free. I did manage to surf FT for a while and later saw the other computers had been fixed.

By the time boarding comes along the fohn nor'wester has reached the ground, is blowing hard and has warmed the temperature to unseasonably high levels.

Unlike most of my recent ATR flights the load is less than full with maybe a dozen empty seats.

We had a bumpy flight until we had climbed far enough above the wind (about 20 minutes). The eastern side of the Southern Alps was clear - good views of the low rolling Canterbury hills giving way to the more angular and eroding mountains of Marlborough, pierced by deep gouges along the faultlines. To the west a thick blanket of clouds piled up over the main divide. We crossed a stormy looking Cook Strait and continued northwards. The peak of Mt Taranaki was poking above the cloud cover to our west. We passed the small Manawatu plains and the hill country behind.

Over the central plateau we were close enough to Mt Ruapehu to see the milky crater lake, the deep gouge of the lahar of a couple of weeks ago clearly visible. There was an enormous amount of debris pulled down the mountain for it to be so clearly seen piled up even at this height. The closeness which it came to polluting Taupo's trout fisheries was seen by the narrow gap between the lahar flow and the rivers which make the headwaters of NZ's longest river, the Waikato River.

We flew across Lake Taupo and descended over the geothermal valleys. A straight in approach past the small city of Rotorua.

One thing I noticed was that, like the earlier flight, the crew seem to only do one run through with drinks and one to collect rubbish (also hand out sweets on ATR but not on 737). It doesn't seem that long ago that cabin crew would do a minimum of 2 runs through with drinks so that you could have a top-up drink if desired. I guess that aspect of service has been traded away for something - although I don't know what it could be.
 
I have a bit of time before my next flight. So I take a short walk in the sunshine and wind, and return to do some work and read the last of the newspaper. There is no lounge at Rotorua airport, and with a couple of 737 flights as well as a couple of flights on smaller aircraft the airport is rather busy at this time of day. A contrast to the last time I was here when the terminal resembled a ghost town with employees outnumbering passengers by a sizeable margin.

While I work a bus disgorges a large group flying on Qantas to Queenstown (via Christchurch). I'm amazed at how much luggage some people have, even for a 3 week holiday (which I learn through their rather loud conversation). One couple in front of me had no less than 11 bags. All oversized. In contrast another couple in the same group had just a modest wheelaboard. Perhaps some FTers?

I pay the NZ$5 employment tax. Officially it is an airport development levy, but I call it the employment tax since, as with the other local airport taxes at Hamilton and Palmerston North, it seems to be mainly used to fund the people who collect the payment and scan the boarding passes for the sticker at the gate.
 
ROTORUA to WELLINGTON (ROT-WLG) on NZ Q300

Third flight of the day and the third aircraft type. Load is moderately full. Another bumpy flight. We retrace much the same path as on the way up. Thanks to the windy conditions we head much further south than normal, past Blenheim and past Lake Grassmere, before turning north to land. We have a classic Wellington wild landing.
 
WELLINGTON to PALMERSTON NORTH (WLG-PMR) on NZ Beech 1900D

On arrival I made my way across the tarmac to the finger pier - only just managing to hold on to my bag in the strong wind. Since we arrived early due to the tail winds, I decide I have enough time for a quick lounge visit. Boarding is then called and I make my way to the other prop gates at the end of the main pier. As I come down the escalator to ground level I am paged personally for the flight. Jeez - don't give much time before paging (most likely boarding began early) and surprised given the gate agent making the page can see me coming (there being no other flights from those gates at that time that I could be rushing to make).

Sure enough I'm last onboard. There is a delay while they load the bags. :rolleyes: The aircraft is rocking in the wind. We start off a little late. Waiting at the end of the taxiway for our turn to take off, the rocking is quite severe. It will be a bumpy short flight at low altitude. And so it proves.

We lose time en route thanks to the headwind and have another rather rough landing at Palmerston North.
 
PALMERSTON NORTH to AUCKLAND (PMR-AKL) on NZ Saab 340

I pay the NZ$5 departure tax and head to check in to get the code for the lounge. The agent recognises me from last time I visited and we chat for a while. I get my terrible pre-allocated seat swapped for a much better seat despite the flight being full ;)

In the lounge the new tv is playing up and not working. So instead I catch up on reading some documents. The time passes quickly until my flight.

This is the fifth different aircraft type for today. Other than Air National's Jetstream, Vincent Aviation's Beech 1900C, the odd Air NZ A320 flight, and the domestic tag leg of some flights from Japan, this represents the entire fleet of aircraft used domestically by Air NZ.

Once again it takes a while to climb above the bumps. The setting sun in the west radiating across the cloud sheet. To the east the darkening sky. The nearly full moon rises and reflects magnificantly off the Waikato River and Manukau Harbour.

We land in darkness. Another day gone. Another (little) journey complete.
 
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FLYING TOUR OF NEW ZEALAND

Continuing with the increasingly badly titled mini tour of New Zealand I pause for a moment of indulgence.

After lots and lots of international travel in the past few years, my schedule for 2007 was looking like I wouldn’t be able to fit much longhaul travel in. Don’t get me wrong, I still expect to do quite a bit by non-FT standards – say 2 or 3 round the world trips plus some other trips, however this is well down on the past few years. Instead my schedule currently suits short domestic trips.

Having recently flown to the last few of the 26 domestic destinations served by a major airline in New Zealand, I decided to set myself a new goal – to fly all 50 current domestic routes. I had previously flown quite a few of them, but the network schedules will pose some challenges to fit into my time constraints (as well as booking engine constraints) – particularly the routes served only once a day.

While I will collect a modest amount of mileage thanks to sector minimums, this is not a mileage run. Fare rules in New Zealand do not permit routings other than the most direct possible, and the cheapest domestic fares on Air New Zealand are non-mileage earning (with Qantas only having 6, soon to be 5, routes almost all flights are on Air New Zealand).

The current routes are listed below, and I’ll mark them off as I go.

From/To Auckland

From/To Hamilton

From/To Wellington
  • WLG-WRE not yet flown (Wellington – Whangarei)
  • WLG-HLZ first flown years ago (Wellington - Hamilton)
  • WLG-TRG first flown 2007 (Wellington – Tauranga)
  • WLG-ROT first flown 2007 (Wellington – Rotorua)
  • WLG-TUO first flown 2007 (Wellington – Taupo)
  • WLG-GIS first flown 2007 (Wellington – Gisborne)
  • WLG-NPE first flown years ago (Wellington - Napier / Hastings)
  • WLG-NPL first flown 2007 (Wellington – New Plymouth)
  • WLG-WAG first flown 2007 (Wellington – Wanganui)
  • WLG-PMR first flown 2007 (Wellington – Palmerston North)
  • WLG-BHE first flown years ago, and again in 2007 (Wellington - Blenheim)
  • WLG-NSN first flown years ago, and again in 2007 (Wellington - Nelson)
  • WLG-WSZ first flown 2006 (Wellington - Westport)
  • WLG-CHC first flown years ago, and again in 2006 (Wellington - Christchurch)
  • WLG-TIU first flown 2006 (Wellington - Timaru)
  • WLG-ZQN (seasonal route) first flown years ago (Wellington - Queenstown)
  • WLG-DUD first flown 2006 (Wellington - Dunedin)

From/To Nelson

From/To Christchurch
 
WELLINGTON to WHANGAREI (WLG-WRE) on NZ Beech 1900D

This is the longest Air NZ flight on a puddle jumper, and according to the Kia Ora magazine at 626km is almost 100km more than the Beech 1900D's "average range" whatever that means. I guess it means the flight will never be fully loaded?

It was a fine day for flying, the Indian summer stretching on and on. With the much lower altitude and slower speeds than the more usual jets I fly on flights this long, and a route that takes us almost the length of the North Island I was really looking forward to the flight.

I had enough time for a quick lounge visit and a light breakfast just before they cleared breakfast stuff away, and a nice sandwich when they brought them out. Plus catch up on some work and FT filled in the time nicely. From past experience I guessed I was the only person in the lounge on this flight and given they call the flights late in boarding anyway I was ready for the call and didn't dally. I headed out the main entrance down the stairs so I could pick up a mint on the way, even though the rear down escalator would be slightly closer to the gate - there wasn't many flights at this time of day and so we got the main pier prop gate rather than way out on the prop pier.

The gate agent makes a comment that she wasn't sure her print out was right - who would come down from Auckland on the same day they take Wellington to Whangarei? (There are plenty of flights on the short hop between Auckland and Whangarei.) Sure enough I'm last to board and the flight is fairly empty. When I checked in I had a wide choice of seats and selected 3F for the best scenery will be out that side and it is close enough to still see into & through the coughpit (the first 2 rows are windowless).

We set off on time, and taxiied right to the very end of the runway, skipping past some runway entrances. I'm not sure why as we only needed half the runway before taking off.

During the flight the floor vents annoying fluctuated from chilly to almost burning hot, so I kept having to move my feet and legs even within the small space between seats.

There was extensive low cloud punching through the narrows of Cook Strait, however once we reached Manawatu the skies below cleared and great views of the plains, hills and of course the volcanoes on each side - Taranaki to the left, Ruapehu Ngauruhoe and Tongariro to the right. The early morning fog in the plains and valleys had cleared to a very light mist, giving the land a soft tone.

Wanganui was unmistakeable just below us, the small city bunched up around the river bends on the small flats between the hills and sea. Inland the sun shone brightly on the tortuous rivers, illuminating some stretches in brilliant silver while other bends were deep in shadow. Eventually the dessicated hills give way to the slightly less rough farmed areas of the King Country and onward to the Waikato basin. Here too the soft light mist stretching all the way across to the Kaimai and Mamuka Ranges.

As we pass the city of Hamilton, easily identified by its size, the clearly visible Waikato River winding its way through the heart of the city and the lake, I realise I haven't read any of the book I am supposed to have read today. Oops. The day is warming up nicely as evidenced by the thermal clouds along the Coromandel Ranges, Bombay Hills and later all the peaks and islands of Auckland and Northland. Yet it is also clearly not summer for a stable airmass at about 10,000 feet means the clouds spread out into caps - some small and others broad. There isn't enough energy to break through this layer.

We pass over Auckland airport and the city and begin our descent. The Hauraki Gulf is resplendent - hundreds if not thousands of boats out enjoying the fine weather before winter strikes. There are lots of tiny ripples all silvery in the sun. The wakes of the boats and yachts, showing clearly in the flattened tracks in the water.

Time to board another flight. More soon.
 
Heading north past the bays and inlets, headlands and tranquil turqouise seas, we slowly descend. Further north in the hills we see fresh scarring from the torrential rains earlier this year.

We fly past the distinctive skyline of Bream Head, over the Marsden Point oil refinery and up the length of Whangarei Harbour. A sharp turn at the top to land heading back out to sea on this little plateau on the headland.
 
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