Driving to the airport, ~10 minutes outside Kaikoura town	They have 2 planes for rent - a 4-seat Piper Archer...	And a 2-seat Cessna 152. We decide to take the more expensive 4-seater so we can both be on board at the same time.	Sue takes the controls first. The flight instructor takes the right seat, Bob's in the back taking pictures.	Taxing out for takeoff.

	The Aero Club is where we rented the plane and instructor. Very professional.	Accelerating for takeoff	Lift the nose	And we're off!	The aiport is right on the coast

	Just a few feet from the beautiful surf	We fly along the coast-line	Inland, the mountains have a bit of clouds on them.		Looking behind us

		The Kaikoura peninula		Fun! We are both rated pilots so Dan let us fly the whole time.	Looking back towards the coast

		We fly a little into the mountains, it's pretty but bumpy air (it's ~2:00pm). Really a glider day.	Nice photos from a moving plane on a bumpy day are HARD to do. Bob did great takiing all these!	The hillsides really have amazing terrain.

	Sue's having fun!	Our instructor Dan was great to fly with.	Heading back towards the coast to land and give Bob a turn	Dan makes a radio call for the local traffic.	Turning base, the runway is hard to see

	Final approach to the grass just left of the hard surface. Sue had not landed a Piper Archer in ten years so Dan took over for a nice landing on the grass.	There was actually a whale-watching sight-seeing flight scheduled right after Sue's flight, so Dan went off with other tourists to do that.	Then, Bob gets his turn to fly.	Nice takeoff	The Kaikoura peninsula again

	Out to sea, whale-watching and dolphin-watching boats cruise around looking for whales and dolphin pods.	Clearly a peninsula from this viewpoint.	Looking back on the peninsula (looking south-east), most of town is on the 2 coasts.	At the far end of the peninsula, seals hang out on the rocks. See pictures on other page.	Looking down at the water on the coast, you can see the incredible color change from the sediment from the beach.

	Clouds hanging below the mountains		Dan, our instructor, relaxes with his elbow over the seat, with Bob flying.	Bob's having fun	The river valley was just cool to see from the air.

	It was a very fun flight. We both got our logbooks signed, tick! 20 minutes each of flying.	Neither of us had been in an Archer for years, it's a smooth flying plane.	The Aero Club there uses it mostly for Whale Watching scenic flights	We'd already decided to take a boat out the next morning with Fran, hoping against sea-sickness.	The tourists who took the scenic whale-watching flight came back smiling.

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