Sunday, April 1, 2012

Goodbye Glide over Mount Maunganui

This week has been a whirlwind.  Saying goodbye to friends, fellow community GPs, neighbors and coworkers.     Packing and cleaning and organizing for what's next.  Amidst it all, my landlord invited me to join him on a glider flight to see the Mount one last time--- in a way like no other!

My landlord is a member of the Tauranga Glider Club.  He invited me for a Saturday afternoon flight before I left the Mount.  Of COURSE I said yes!

I met him at the Tauranga Airport.  He told me (and my fan club of spectators!) about gliding, and how he can look at the clouds and know what flights are going to be like.  Gliders have no engines and work on the theory of the "lift" in the air... warm air can do this, but so can mountain ranges.  These two, plus the wind, allow the gliders to fly.  

Here is my landlord Mark introducing me to the glider and its specifics.  What a gorgeous day!

The glider has two seats.  Me in the front, him in the back!  We both have all the controls available to each of us.  

We got towed out and up by a small airplane. 


Here's looking out to Papamoa...

And on the other side was Motiti Island, where I was avo picking just a few weeks ago!

Basically there's a ripcord that you pull (well, Mark pulled it), and the rope between us and the towplane detaches, and we're off on our own to glide!
We did a quick turn and headed back towards the Mount.


Well hello from the sky!

Yes, you are wondering how on EARTH this photo was taken.  Well, there's a little slide window for each seat of the glider.  Mark opened his, stuck my camera out it, and aimed it to take a photo of me!  HOW FLIPPIN COOL!

(Thankfully my spectactors Theresa and James donated the wriststrap from their camera for me to use on my camera to make this risky photo opportunity possible and safe.  Thanks guys!)

Then Mark asked me if I liked RollerCoasters.  I said "yes, as a child..." and the next thing I know we were doing loop-de-loops!   Holy craziness!  I didn't know gliders could possibly do such things!

While my stomach was still upside down, I managed to get this awesome shot of the Mount.

And looksie what came next!  Mark let ME fly the glider!  I'm in control!!!
(my hand was so so so sweaty!)

I flew us safely to over the Mount (whew!).  Then Mark took control so I could take a closer glimpse at the Mount ... to think how many times I walked/ran/squatted/crawled my way up this thing, but NEVER saw it like this!

And this...

We had to be polite and not get in the way/airspace of the hang gliders and paragliders that were on the Mount too.  We did a couple loops around the Mount, then sailed right over top of my/our apartment!  See the tennis court on the bottom right?  That is/was my home!

We were losing air and lift (sounds scary but really wasn't) and had to make our way back to the airport.  We flew over the Port of Tauranga, and got to see just how many piles of logs and timber are there, waiting for their cargo ships to arrive.  Wow!

And before you know it, we were landing again at the airport.
Quite a smooth landing too!


Even though I think my stomach stayed up in the air til almost dinnertime, it was an absolutely incredible experience.  Thank you Mark for being an amazing landlord and a fantastic glider pilot and graciously showing me the Mount in such a unique way before I left!

Stay tuned for what adventures may be up in my next location!







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