“Lucky to get out Alive” _Mel Parsons knew …

Mt. Cook Lakeside Retreat

Wellington is famous for its winds. We flew in to NZWN from Auckland in an old Mooney hot rod. She is light and fast. She is also a throw toy for the wind. It was a beautiful rollercoaster ride down the coast.

 

The “Little Bird” made the hop to Christchurch a quick little leg stretcher in a nice leather chair bolted to a missile. She didn’t mind a few bumps into NZCH. The Jet Ranger ride to Mt. Cook however, was not for the faint of heart. Our trip up to the Franz Josef glacier, following the “Grand Circle” tour offered by Mt.Cook Ski Planes & Helicopters (we have a deep respect for their flight crews),was close to trip ending. No Bueno. Story over. We were lucky to get out alive.

After recovering from a bad pilot choice  that lead into Settling with Power, over a glacier hiding in the clouds, we choose to land. Finding a hard patch of ice we set down to kiss the ground. On our return into NZMC we found low and fast was much more appealing to us and the bird than up and over.

The Mt. Cook Lakeside Retreat is where we’d lay our heads. Isn’t it a small virtual world that Mel Parsons of Auckland is playing in Twizel. She was singing her song “Get Out Alive”. Linda asked …how’d she know? She’s got to be singing about us.

We listened to Sam Bartells of Auckland on our way down here and we’ll fly off to Australia enjoying Mel’s musical gifts. New Zealand has been very good to us. Its scenery has filled our souls and her music our hearts. Thanks NZ. You’re amazing.

Helo to Hobbiton …via Rivendell

 When we flew into NZWN Linda looked at me and said, “Huh, I thought there’d be mountains here.” I replied, “They must be hiding in those clouds”. I got the look.

When we arrived in New Zealand we knew 2 things. The first thing we knew was that we pre-arranged to transition a TBO Jet Ranger from NZWN to NZAA for gas (Jet-A) money. The second thing was we could take 48 hours to do it …oh yeah, and a third thing. Linda could only bring 30 pounds of luggage. I got 5 pounds.

Central New Zealand is a bigger land mass than we’d expected. Not really knowing much more than our basic fuel requirements & navigation we left the Little Bird in good hands at Wellington Intl and headed North East. Our plan for the evening was to stay overnight at a Farm B&B in Hobbiton just outside of Matamata. We were off to find Linda some mountains.

Shortly after we departed NZWN we arrived over Kaitoke Park, home of Rivendell from the Lord of the Rings films. We followed the mountain range North East overflying Lake Taupo into scenery that seemed to transport us into a living Tolkien novel.

Lake Taupo

In route to Matamata, once out of the mountain ranges, we overflew vast open spaces with pockets of life gathered around collection points of what seemed to be an endless supply of rivers and streams.

 

 

Matamata NZ.  Hobbiton ahead on hillside

 After we set down in Matamata we opened the door of the Jet Ranger into Middle Earth. Now we know how Peter Jackson must have felt using a helo to look for Hobbiton.

 

How could our sunrise flight into Auckland tomorrow morning ever top this? Once again on this journey that question arises. Can Linda really survive another 48 hours living with only 30 pounds of luggage? That is the real question.  Her favorite “S” words have become Shopping & Shipping.

Weather determines whether or not to go.

Reporting of being there from here requires several things.

1.     A wild ass imagination.

2.     Technology

Walt Disney inspires creative people by reminding them that our only limitations are our imagination. “Imagine if you will” planning and executing a trip around the world, virtually, traveling in real time. How would you want to travel? Your imagination is your vehicle of choice. This reporter chooses to travel fast in order to see as much as possible in a short period of time. Money is not an object; once again, I have a wild ass imagination.

The technology for this journey lives in a box before me. It has cool terms associated with it. Terms like Terra Bite, Six Core, DDR3, Liquid cooled …it’s all protected by a metaphorical big ass bouncer called 1 to 1 push pull transformer. That part of the technology is for navigation and research, it’s the visual component. The audio component is …let’s just say it represents the inside of a Lear Jet extremely well.

All this technology requires electric current to live. So, as our virtual selves sat in Fiji waiting to depart for New Zealand our real time selves shut down all this technology to protect it from bad things that happen to technology when 70 MPH winds run among tall timber and power lines.

Leaving Laucala for NFFN

The flight from Laucala Island to NFFN to return the Goose and transfer ourselves back into our Little Bird was not without challenge. High cross winds along with 200# of "stuff" placed aft made our water take off memorable. On final approach into NFFN some other pilot, who does not know the rules, pulled onto our active runway causing the tower to wave us off of what was a darn pretty approach.

We leave Fiji behind.

More later …

Laucala Island & G'Bye to Goose

 

 

Today was just a short hop from one place in paradise to another. It may be paradise here in the arms of our host but this is a developing country. They have customs much different from our own but not all that strange to us.

 

 

A side trip around the island

Tomorrow we fly back to the big city of Nadi. A city filled with scads of people ready to help you out …for a fee. Arrive from an outline resort and you’ll meet more help than you thought could exist. Arrive in a Lear 45 …you get the point. It is like anywhere else, be smart, be heads up.

Put that all aside. Let the world pass by at one of the finest resorts on the planet:
 The Laucala Island Resort.

Tomorrow we plan our trip to Wellington New Zealand.  Then back to NFFN to say goodbye to the Goose and pick up the Little Bird.




I do love the shake, rattle and roll of the old Goose. She is a grand old lady. It’ll be nice to once again be snuggled into a fine leather seat strapped onto a missile built by a man named Lear.






Landing at Laucala Island Resort

 

 

We’ll just park on the beach

 

I find myself recalling a line from the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey. "My God, it's full of stars". There are still places where you can look up at night and never want to look back down. This would be one of those places.

 

 

 I’m glad for the Goose. This rock is bigger than I thought. A jeep would be nice but the Goose allows for stops in secluded coves and plenty of room for Linda’s stuff. We had to only load 75% of our capacity for fuel to accommodate the weight of her …stuff.

 

 

 

This must be where color was invented. If so the private island resort on Nukubati has got a ton it to spare each sunrise.

 

 

Palmlea Eco Farm

We’ll park at Palmlea Farms tonight. The owners have built an eco resort and organic farm in Vanua Levu. It appeals to the hippies in us. It is one of the most beautiful settings I’ve seen. I do find myself saying that a lot on this adventure. Joe and Julie strike a chord in our hearts with what they’re doing with their business.

I’m sure the owners of an eco resort will understand us parking our less than eco friendly Goose on their beach. We did arrive before 0800 so we’d not disturb the beach goers.

This would be where'd we'd kick back to count our blessings.

 

Sneaking in a Goose, in the dark

Why fly a Beaver when you can ride upon the wings of a Goose? Can't sit around, we've got to fly with the sun.

There is so much to explore here. These places jump off the screen with a beauty I can only imagine would be breath taking in person.

 

I’ve got such a place to drag Linda off to once the sun rises. I’ll be entertained while waiting by trying to convince myself that performing a pre-flight at 0300 in a dark Goose anchored off a Fijian beach is cooler than just about anything I could imagine. Just about.

She snuck in this morning to replace the Jet Ranger. How could the arrival of a 1953 Grumman Goose be anything but subtle?

 

Keep the Kava coming

Yasawa-i-Rara is where our virtual day will end. It started yesterday on the Marshall Islands. We paused in Nadi for a few hours after a missed approach from strong cross winds on our final into NFFN. I can say Linda was impressed;  "...weren't we going to land there?" Just what every pilot needs on a missed approach, a smart-ass co-pilot.

Now, after an enjoyable 6AM helicopter flight over towns and islands with names like Waya, Naviti, Yaqeta and Turtle Island, we find ourselves at the Blue Lagoon Resort in Yasawa.

 

There are a lot of islands and small pockets of paradise all around us. We hope you enjoy finding these places with us. May just one of us find ourselves in just one of these places someday.

Once I can virtually pry Linda's virtual butt off a virtual beach chair at the very real Blue Lagoon Resort we'll grab an old Beaver (float plane) to continue our adventure. The Jet Ranger is too slow to see what other jewels Fiji has in store.






For now ...keep the Kava coming. I don't fly for 24.


Parked in Yasawa

The Blue Lagoon on YouTube

Contrails to Bungalows

Making Contrails @ FL49

Flying across the Pacific I started thinking about the Polynesians from the Marquesas Islands. They were the first people to reach the Hawaiian Islands. I turned to Linda and said, "dang, this 4 hours to the Marshall Islands is a long ass boring flight". I then thought to myself; what would the tribesmen, paddling their canoes across an open ocean, think if they saw my contrails racing across the sky at velocities approaching the speed of sound? Would they think it to be a divine sign? Would their wisest say "...no problem brah. It's just a Lear 45"?

Our trip into Fiji from Honolulu required a gas stop. I must say that it was comforting to find a light blue spot of water shining bright in the dark ocean below us. It is a welcoming sight after watching your life blood (Jet A)  closing in on empty.

It’s another 5 hours to Fiji from here so we’ll enjoy some Marshall Island hospitality for the evening. The Hotel RobertReimers has Bungalows. We choose one facing the lagoon.

Linda is all about clean and comfortable. You can’t expect to find Seattle’s Metropolitan Grill in Majuro but you can get a good meal and a clean room here. Don’t bitch about the price …you are on a rock (Atoll) in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where else you going to go?

Tomorrow we continue on to Fiji. Hopefully Linda will find enough stuff to keep us there for a couple of days.   

A $4K box of Chocolates

We started out chasing time by flying towards tomorrow. What that ends up meaning for us is waking up on WA time in Hawaii.  It’s all good if the plan is to fly out to Kawela Bay for sunrise.

Linda’s idea is to use this virtual trip to Christmas shop (for our real time world).

She made this announcement on our early morning flight along the John Burns Fwy, a lit path through the mountains between Honolulu and Kaneohe. I think this is one of her better plans.

 We left the Hawaii North Shore after sunrise. Saying goodbye to Turtle Resort we turned right to follow the beach back to the little bird parked at Honolulu Intl.

Just South East of Honolulu we found the little beach town of Kaaawa.

Linda’s first gift find is: fineasschocolate.com

She likes the Dark Ass with a Kick chocolate balls. Luckily for me she can have them shipped home, it’s that weight and balance thing. Linda smiles one of her infectious smiles and says “…and they were only $7 a bag”. I thought, yeah baby, that and a virtual $4210 for the 762 gallons of Jet A we burned getting here from Bremerton.

 On our short trip back to PHNL honey says, “I love Hawaii but I need options.” I know what this means, it means a change of plans …

Virtually waiting for Chocolate in Kaaawa, HI
 

…tomorrow we’re off for Fiji.

Welcome aboard.

My wife Linda says I’m high maintenance. She may be right. Given that thought I’ve taken a virtual vacation to ponder her idea. Welcome Aboard!

I’ll be using FSX SE as my virtual world to travel in. I do it this way because my main mode of transportation will be a Learjet 45. I’ve chosen this “Little Bird” for her range, speed, short runway abilities and ceiling …plus she darn near goes straight up on climb out.

We'll  be traveling using the real time, real world weather engine, FSX Active Sky. It provides us with the weather and information we use to navigate through.

For this blog I’ll attempt to keep my aviation lingo to normal people terminology ...as far as I can. There are a lot of acronyms in the world of aviation.

Yesterday we left Bremerton WA (KPWT) @ 10AM local on the first leg of our vacation …Around the World.

After five hours @ ¾ the speed of  sound (0.73M) burning through several hundred pounds of fuel, 60 MPH headwinds @ 44,000’ and a bone headed fast climb attempt to FL49 (49,000’), we arrived in the Hawaiian Islands at Honolulu Intl.

I use “we” because my virtual travel companion is Linda. We have been married over 4 decades. With over forty years of experience I'm calculating she will easily bring 200 pounds of …stuff.
Our "weight and balance" calculations tell me how much fuel we get to carry …after her baggage of course.

Tomorrow, and for the next few days we’ll grab a Jet Ranger and do a little sightseeing on the islands.  

High maintenance? …yeah, right. What’s she know?