After the stunning mountain scenery of our last flight, this week we will largely avoid the high country and stick to the coast on our journey from Nelson to Westport.
Departing Nelson, we head west following the shoreline to Motueka before heading inland over the Takaka Hill and down the valley to Takaka (NZTK - FSX only). From there we cross Golden Bay to the eastern tip of Farewell Spit before making our first ever foray into Westland, exploring a wild and largely unvisited stretch of the South Island's coastline. We perform a touch and go at Karamea (NZKM) before arriving en masse at Westport (NZWS).
This is another longish flight so we'll be departing Nelson as close to 7pm as we can.
Departure Time: Thursday 2nd April 2009 19:00 NZDT
Flight Time: 1.5 to 2.0hrs
Route:
- Leave Nelson (NZNS) heading west along the coast to Motueka.
- Follow State Highway 60 inland over the Takaka Hill and north along the Takaka Valley to perform a touch and go at Takaka (NZTK - FSX only).
- Head north-east across Golden Bay to the seaward end of Farewell Spit.
- Follow the spit back to the mainland at Puponga.
- Continue south via the western coast line to perform a touch and go at Karamea (NZKM). (Optionally, fly via the Big River, the Mackay Downs and the Heaphy River, the western portion of the Heaphy Track)
- Continue south via either the coast or State Highway 67 to Westport (NZWS)
If you don't know where you're going follow another pilot who looks like he does!
Late-comers: Late-comers or pilots not wanting to come for the full flight can join us from Takaka (FSX only) or Karamea. Alternatively, a shorter variation of this route (dashed orange on the route map) skips the Golden Bay section and tracks direct from Upper Takaka to Karamea.
Private Voice Channel:General pilot-to-pilot voice chat during this will be available on rw1.vatpac.org/vatnzflightclub.
(Use the Private Voice Chat in SB or the Company Frequency feature in FSInn to tune this server.)
For further enjoyment of this flight I recommend you have the following,
- Red Baron New Zealand Land Class
- Geographx 75m Mesh or 20m Mesh (payware)
- Roads and Rivers of New Zealand (payware)
If you have any further questions please reply to this thread or PM me,
Nick