Stewart Island flights - BN2

[deeknow]

Hey all. Been away these last couple of weeks, did an 8 day hike around the Northwest Circuit of Stewart Island w a few cobbers, had a few rushed days prepping and a couple of days recovering. Was a bit of a mud-fest, despite us having great weather, and defo the hardest hike any of us had ever done. AMAZING scenery though and we pretty much had the track to ourselves, met one guy in a hut on his own and one couple coming the other way.

Anyway, got a couple of aviation related pics to share. We flew an A320 from NZAA to NZCH then an ATR to NZNV on the way down. I took the flight option over to the Island from there of course which was a Britten Norman BN2 (a livery I've painted in the past for the Flight1 model) with Stewart Island Airways. An amazing wee machine, fun to fly in but was ZERO leg room and VERY bumpy on the way over (thank goodness for sea-legs)

No wales spotted sadly, maybe next time.

Enjoy

Stewart Island trip by Dino Borelli, on Flickr

[Charl]

OMGoodness that is one mighty walk - tough buggers eh?
Glad you were not marooned by all that Southern Weather of the last days.
Ah yes the BN2, first and last flight was years ago, whale watching.
Had to be cut short, everyone vomited
Great pics, thanks for sharing.

[deeknow]

Hah thanks Charl. Don't know about tough, more like slow and tired we got there in the end, was quite the experience. DOC tho badly sand-bagged the estimated times for each leg, we thought we were doing OK but were consistently 20-25% slower than the DOC times posted. Some days took us 9hrs plus when estimate was 6-7. Sheesh

If anyone is interested in the hike photos I posted some in another album here
https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBM5du

Re the flight, she was smooth as a babies bottom on way back but on the way down she was rough as guts esp on approach to Oban, I took a wee video and will share that later but let's just say .... roller-coaster?!?!?!

[Aharon]

Amazing photos and amazing fun trip via THREE FLIGHTS!!!!!

[deeknow]

Thanks Aharon. Yep it was a great trip, not sure about "fun" tho, more like "type-2" fun, ie terrible while doing but fun to look back on

https://www.rei.com/blog/climb/fun-scale

[Naki]

Cool!...I did tgia trip a couple of years ago...I couldn't fit in the back seat so ended up being co-pilot...was smooth as both ways...I should post the pics as well

[deeknow]

Cool!...I did tgia trip a couple of years ago...I couldn't fit in the back seat so ended up being co-pilot...was smooth as both ways...I should post the pics as well

Do it, do it !! Yeah I was defo squished in there, one of the pics above is a leg-room shot, that was with me man-spreading

[Splitpin]

Great post deeknow....oh for half of your stamina.
I walk between 7 and 10k a day on flat firm ground, and it stuffs me some days.
Love all the photos , thanks for sharing big fella

[deeknow]

thanks M - jeeze 7-10km a day for you, I reckon you'd be pretty bloody fit if your doin that regularly, flat or not

[emfrat]

In my Production Control/Master Scheduler days I covered a fair bit of ground around the plant, but nothing like that. The least they should do is provide a pushbike.
Mike