We met some new friends in New Zealand who are quite adventurous and they suggested that we try gliding as there is a large gliding club only 5K away. The process of reserving and purchasing a flight was quite complicated as first we had to apply online to purchase a voucher. Secondly they sent us an email advising us to deposit 190 NZD each into their bank account. We had to have our New Zealand friend Sue do that and we paid her in cash. After the deposit they sent us each a voucher for the flight. We then had to request a day for the flight by return email. They then confirmed our January 2 request late on the 1st telling us to arrive by 09:45.
We first got lost trying to find this place but still arrived by 09:45.Finally we are here and this is our first viewings of gliders. It then took us a bit of time to find the “clubhouse”.At 10 am there was a briefing type meeting in which the pilots discussed wind direction and courses of flights. It went right over our heads (no pun intended).Everything was quite informal except for writing our names and voucher numbers on the board. They had us fill out a form with our next of kin’s information and sign a waiver. It also listed some safety instructions while being on the field. We were then advised to follow a white van which we did. Once we arrived at the launch point, things were still very informal. Jim characterized the whole experience as very loosey goosey or higgledy piggly.This is the sky launch winch heading out for its position. It was so far away from the launch point that we never saw it again. Jim did learn it contains one of the largest V8 engines in New Zealand and that it uses one liter of petrol per launch.
This video shows the launch point and the first glider (ours) being delivered.This was the only double glider that we saw. There were many single gliders being piloted by club members.Sandy securing her parachute.
Video of Sandy tightening up her parachute.
Video of Sandy’s extensive instructions on how to bail out of the glider. We were not sure if we should be grateful or wary of the fact that they had us put on parachutes. The only instruction regarding the parachute was jump out of the plane and wait some then pull this cord 😮. WTF does “wait some” mean before pulling the cord! 🤨. Look at the size of the parachute on Sandy’s back. It weighed about 5 pounds.Sandy all ready for blast off. Can you see getting out of all these straps and being able to stand and jump out in case you were ordered to???Ready for take off.
Video of Sandy’s launch. You can see the slack being taken out of the cable before it engages the glider.Sandy took this view.Nice selfie by Sandy of her flight. Our pilot/instructor was Thomas a German from Stuttgart who has only been here since October and is moving on to the South Island for more gliding on the 13th of January. He is also a ski instructor and avid cyclist and hiker. He is almost 65 and will retire soon. His Swiss wife is a nurse and he has a son age 27. Sandy had an easy flight and conversed quite a bit with Thomas. Jim’s flight was much more intense as Thomas had to work very hard to find the thermals to gain altitude. They circled for at least 20 minutes to get to 4,000 feet of elevation.Nice view of the Ruamahanga River.
Nice video of Sandy’s flight. The beeping you can hear is the audible indicator of how much lift the plane has. The faster it beeps the faster you are rising and vice versa.This glider club has 20-30 gliders and many active members. We spoke to a few of them while we waited for each other. Our flights lasted around 50 minutes.
Video of Sandy’s landing, the end of it is below.
Jim’s graceful entry into the cockpit. He received no instructions on bailing out of the cockpit and deploying his parachute.Jim trying to look terrified. Just don’t touch the wrong lever.
Video of Jim’s launch taken by Sandy.
Video of Jim’s launch from inside the cockpit.Greytown with our present residence circled. Helen and Sue waved to us as we flew by.View of the Wairarapa Tartarua Range
Video of Jim’s landing from inside the cockpit. Quite bumpy.
Sandy’s video of Jim’s landing.
This video of Sandy’s flight was taken by Dierdre a friend and neighbor of Helen and Sue who was watching for us outside her home in Greytown.
And so another adventure ends. It has been less than one year since we went para-gliding in Colombia which is 3x’s more dangerous than skydiving. The most dangerous venture so far was flying in an ultralight ((described as a motor scooter with wings) with a friend in Sonoma Valley. We have also done a couple of zip lines, a few hot air balloon rides, multiple helicopter rides and numerous rides in smaller planes. We will NOT be bungie jumping in New Zealand but we probably will try skydiving in our 80’s or maybe 90’s as we seem to be getting more adventurous and needing thrills as we age. Not sure how happy our kids are about this though. Well as they say you only live once.
What a way to ring in the new year!
Laurie and I traveled to Newport in search of a raincoat I saw in November in Rob’s store. As luck would have it, we saw him in the store and had a nice chat w him.
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