Antique Plane Fly-In

Dear Family and Friends,

We worked our way down to one of the southern most cities in New Zealand, Invercargill.

We saw there was an air show with antique airplanes in a near by town, Mandeville.  On Sunday we decided to do what the locals were doing tourist things.

This is one reason we love renting a car.  We can get off the beaten path.

They had bi-planes and I was touched by this 92 year old woman who was going to take a ride.  I asked someone if it was her first flight.  They said "Oh no, she used to be a pilot."

There was a photographer recording the event.  I am sure she was featured in the local news.

Here she is waiting for the pilot to put on her aviator cap.

Here she is in the airplane.

And off she goes.

They had many other old things besides airplanes.  Here is a motorcycle.  I especially made this picture for Randy Kimbler.

Steam tractors.  They really worked, you could ride on one if you wanted.

 At first I thought this was a VW camper, but it is a Ford van that has been converted into a camper.

 They had several antique cars.

 And of course, this event attracted many antique people.

There were young folks and airplanes too.

This is a new recreational airplane that is being made at this airfield.  Production is just getting geared up.

Speaking of attracting the old folks, Chuck decided to "have a go", as they say in New Zealand, in a 1932 Tiger Moth airplane.

Here he is getting instructions on how to be a passenger.  "Don't move any handles."

Ready for take off.

 

 Here are some pictures of New Zealand Chuck took from the air. 

Flight completed.  Chuck and the pilot.

It was a fun day with all the locals.

Love,
Nancy

Camping with a view

Dear Family and Friends,

What about this camping spot?

Lucky folks!!!

Love,
Nancy

Lovely day for a drive

Dear Family and Friends,

Chuck and I drove from Dunedin to Invercargill via the scenic route along the coast.

The weather was grand and the scenery was fantastic.

 We stopped again for a chance to see another waterfall.

 

Now this is more like a waterfall.

Before we finished our day's journey we even spotted a yellow eyed penguin in the wild.

We are having a wonderful time.  Chuck is doing a fantastic job of driving on the opposite side of the road.

Love,
Nancy

Niagara Falls in New Zealand

Dear Family and Friends,

Chuck told me he was going to take me to see New Zealand's Niagara Falls. 

I was pretty excited because taking pictures of the scenery is something I love to do.  Niagara Falls in New Zealand would be a wonderful photo opportunity.  A real plus for something to share with everyone on this blog.

Well my dears...this is the reality of New Zealand's Niagara Falls.

Here are the falls.  Just a trickle.

They even have a highway and a town named Niagara.

Oh well, now we can click that one off.

Love,
Nancy

Training through Taieri Gorge

Dear Family and Friends,

Chuck and I returned to the train station in Dunedin.  The train station is fabulous and looks like a big gingerbread building.

To know more about the station click here.

Here are some pictures I made inside the main ticket selling area.

The floor tiles were beautiful and in excellent condition.   The train station was built in 1905.

Here is our train waiting for us to board.

We had a four hour round trip through the Taieri gorge. To know more click here.   Here is some of the scenery.

 

They engineer even stopped the train so we could walk over one of the high bridges.  One of us thought that was really cool.

Our neighbors across the aisle enjoying the view from their side.

Still having a great time.

Love,
Nancy

FOTO FRIDAY - 2/22/13

Dear Family and Friends,

This week's photo is a night view of Shanghi, China in 2006.

Love,
Nancy

Dunedin NZ and surrounding area

Dear Family and Friends,

Dunedin is the second largest city on the South Island of New Zealand.  It is a lovely university city and there is so much to see that we are spending a couple of days here.

Yesterday we walked into town and enjoyed gawking.

Lovely Anglican church with statue of Robert Burns in the foreground.

And here is the most photographed train station in New Zealand.

Yesterday afternoon we took a drive out on the peninsular for some fantastic views.

From our high vantage point we could see the bay off to one side and the ocean off the other.

We saw sheep

In fact, whole hillsides of sheep.

We saw some very interesting water fowl.

A lot of sea gulls....

 

 Chuck enjoying the view.

Today we are taking a scenic train ride out of the train depot pictured above.  I will share about that at another time.

Love,

Nancy