The Long White Cloud Tour

cheekytrolly · Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 6:52 am Post subject: Update #3

Hi All,
I am sorry to say I did not complete leg #3 today.

Last week I installed a new graphics card, which has been giving me a lot of troubles for the past few days. I thought it would have it fixed by today, but unfortunately, the situation has worsened. The quality of the virtual world that I’d be flying over is still appalling, and not at all good for snapping screenshots.

I will hopefully have fixed my graphics by next weekend, or got a new graphics card, and will be able to continue the tour.

Sorry again for the delay, I hope I still retain your interest.
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NoWorries · Captain Joined: Jul 22, 2005 Posts: 639

Hey Cheeky, I've been really busy and somehow missed your first two legs!

It is looking like a great trip so far! My favorite is the mountain picture, the 5th shot of the 2nd leg!

You've really got a beautiful island, and you screenshots are showing it off nicely!

Looking forward to the next leg(s)!

Faucett · Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 12:41 pm Post subject:

Good to see you haven't given up CT, best of luck. We'll be waiting!!! Smile

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cheekytrolly · Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 6:00 am Post subject:

Sorry to let you all down again, but my computer is still at the IT shop being fixed.

I am not too sure whose fault this is, perhaps my own for not following up advice given to me by certain people, or maybe the shop’s fault for taking what seems like a ridiculously long time to sort out a few simple problems.

Anyway, I am dieing to get back to my tour, and I promise you that as soon as possible I will be departing Wellington to continue my Long White Cloud Tour.

I apologies for prolonging the breaks in between each leg and hope that I do not loose your support.

Cheers,
Andrew
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crosscheck9 · Chief Captain Joined: Oct 07, 2005 Posts: 1033

You will always have support from us Wink

-- Don't worry about the delay; we understand that there are many technical problems that could present themselves to anyone of us, so don't worry about losing your audeince -- We'll be waiting Cool

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Have you ever had that feeling, where everything just seems right, and you have no cares in the world..As if heaven smiled down upon you, and told you everything was going to be ok?

Yea, neither have I

99jolegg · Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 11:45 am Post subject:

cheekytrolly · Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 8:02 am Post subject:

Once again I am afraid I have nothing to report on.

I have my computer back, although nothing has been fixed. The IT guys say they card seems to be the problem, although the person who sold it to me assures me that it is working fine... so the only piece of advice I can share is 1) do not go to NFC Technology if you live in Auckland, and 2) Do not buy computer components from untrustworthy people you do not know and who do not offer you a guarantee.

Instead of flying my tour this weekend, I spent my time at my local airport doing a bit of planespotting. If you are interested, you can view my collection of photos here: http://flyawaysimulation.com/postt20184.html

As for the future of the tour, well, if anyone can find another Geforce FX5600 256mb graphics card, let me know, and all will be as it was in Leg #1, if not, then I have no idea what will happen next.
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crosscheck9 · Chief Captain Joined: Oct 07, 2005 Posts: 1033

Sorry to hear your having trouble CT -- If its any consolation, rest assured we will still be here when your tour carries on Wink

-- As far as finding another 5600, I'll look around for you Wink

_________________
Have you ever had that feeling, where everything just seems right, and you have no cares in the world..As if heaven smiled down upon you, and told you everything was going to be ok?

Yea, neither have I

crosscheck9 · Chief Captain Joined: Oct 07, 2005 Posts: 1033

Cheeky, I found a well priced GeForce 5600 with available extended warranty if it is faulty. Shipping, however, is not included in the price. I'm not familiar with this particular cards price range, so I can't judge whether its reasonable or not, however you might want to consider it - Good Luck Wink

_________________
Have you ever had that feeling, where everything just seems right, and you have no cares in the world..As if heaven smiled down upon you, and told you everything was going to be ok?

Yea, neither have I

Thunderbirdman2 · Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 1:11 pm Post subject:

Kool

VegasFlyer · Chief Captain Joined: Jul 14, 2005 Posts: 2039

Hope you fix the problem soon CT Cheers!

cheekytrolly · Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2006 1:06 pm Post subject: Leg #3, part 1

NZWN- NZNS- NZKM –NZWS- NZGM- NZHK

Well everyone, after installing yet another graphics card (this time it’s a nVidia FX5600 128m), I am pleased to announce that I am ready to continue my tour after the long delay!

After 3 weeks of no flight simulation, it felt dam good to be back in the pilots seat today, as I flew leg 3 of the Long White Cloud Tour, leaving the North Island and venturing across the Cook Straight, and down the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand.

I started the ignition, and was thrilled to hear the Carenado C206 engine rumble to life again after sitting dormant on the Wellington International (NZWN) GA apron for so long. I contacted ATC and requested take off from runway 34 so I could fly past the CBD and over the harbour as I departed from the nation’s capital city (screenshot 1).

As my wheels lifted off the tarmac, a feeling of excitement returned, that I had missed greatly while not being able to run the sim. I climbed up to 3000 feet and observed the old freeware photoreal scenery that would soon be replaced by REAL NZ’s latest payware addon, and enjoyed taking in the view as I completed a 360 degree turn, flew back overhead the airport, and turned to a heading of 249 to head towards my next stop, Nelson (NZNS) which was 72 miles away.

I left landfall and ventured across the channel that splits the country in half, and which just happens to be the theme for the NZFF monthly screenshot competition. Within 10 minutes I had reached the tips of the Marlborough Sounds at the very top of the South Island, and decided to go off course a little to explore the beautiful scenic area (screenshot 2), made possible thanks to the amazing detail of Redbaron Entertainments 20m mesh package.

The path to Nelson which should have only taken me about 20 minutes lasted for another 45 minutes as I explored all the different inlets (screenshot 3) and ridges (screenshot 4) that make this region such a unique natural playground. If I had had it my way then I would have spent a lot more time here, and I am definitely going to return once I finish the tour, perhaps I’ll take a microlight up for the afternoon or something…

Anyway, as I flew within 30nm of Nelson airport, I was able to pick up ATC yet was finding it hard to navigate using VFR with the low cloud setting in (screenshot 5) hiding the hilltops of the Bryant Ranges. With my low altitude, flying into a cloud mass might have resulted in a hillside accident, so I swung around hard to the left to avoid any visual or physical obstacles, and no sooner had I passed the ridge, the township of Nelson popped up below me, and I made a smooth descent and touch and go landing.

After rolling along the A320 capable tarmac runway, I pulled up and climbed away from NZ’s “Sunshine Capital” (screenshot 6) and levelled off at 3000 feet. My next stop Karamea (NZKM), was an airport that was halfway between Nelson, and the next, next airport, Westport, and I thought I might as well visit there as I had never flown in the region ever before on flightsim.

I banked right above the town of Richmond, which looked just as good as photoreal thanks to the brilliant Redbaron landclass package (screenshot 7), and set my heading to 252 degrees for the 50 mile trip over the Tasman Mountains. The low cloud was still hanging about, contrasting against the green foothills below and matching the c206’s paint scheme nicely (screenshot 8).

As the slopes below me increased, I realised that I would need to climb up to at least 6000 feet to clear the terrain, as the mountain range in front of me was a lot bigger than I had anticipated. Once I reached a safe height, I looked down on the rugged land below me and was very, very impressed with how Redbaron’s Mesh and Topo packages complimented each other to create such a realistic environment (screenshot 9).

Soon I could see the sea on the horizon and began my decent into the unmanned airfield, following the Karamea River though a gorge towards the coast (screenshot 10). Out my window I could see a gravel runway, and lined up with the ‘19’ end to make my second t&g for the day. I could only spot three or four buildings with autogen on max, and was pleasantly surprised with the peaceful atmosphere the virtual location represented on my screen, and decided that it was definitely worth the 25 minute journey.

I climbed up to 3000 feet again after bouncing back off the ground, ready for a short stint to the town of Westport (NZWS), which was only 39 miles away at a heading of 196 degrees. Using the coastline as a guide, I followed the sea until I could make out a settlement on the shoreline, ready for another touch and go. It was only after tuning into the Unicom to announce I would be landing on runway 4, that I looked at my clock and realised that because of all the time I had spent exploring off-route, I had under estimated the amount of time needed to finish the leg, and unfortunately I had to go to work.

Planning ahead, I decided to make a full stop landing, park up and pause the sim, then finish off the leg once I returned home in the evening, 5 real world hours away…

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cheekytrolly · Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2006 1:08 pm Post subject: Leg #3, part 2

I made a successful full stop landing at Westport, and parked up on the grass as there were no taxiway or terminal facilities available at this small provincial airport.

I paused the sim and hurriedly changed into my work clothes and dashed off to the supermarket which I work 5 hours on Saturday afternoons, earning money towards my new system needed to run FSX Wink

When I returned, the first thing I did was get back to the computer and cranked up the engine once again, ready to complete leg 3 of my Long White Cloud tour. With over half a tank left of fuel, I taxied across the grass to runway 22, then lowered my flaps and applied full throttle, and took off towards my next destination, Greymouth (NZGM).

The small west coast town- with the rather un-exciting name- was 47 miles away, and sits, as you may have guessed, at the mouth of the River Grey. I climbed up to 3000 feet, and set autopilot on, allowing me to sit back and relax as I followed the coastline south enjoying the wonderful scenic views around me (screenshot 11).

Within 20 minutes, it was time to descend again as the rooftops of Greymouth became visible below me (screenshot 12), and to my surprise, the area did not look as dull as its name suggests, but rather pretty in it’s isolated surroundings (screenshot 13).(Those two screenshots should be in reverse order)

With no manned ATC system, I was allowed to choose what runway to land at, and picked runway 19 as it made the most logical sense for my flight path. In just a few seconds, I performed a quick landing, touching down a little to far down the tarmac than I would have liked, and needed to pull up sharply in order to make it to my final destination today, Hokitika (NZHK).

Nearing the end of the leg, the coastal town of Hokitika was only 18 miles away, so I saw no need to climb up very high for the 15 minute flight. Instead, I just cruised along at 1500 feet, following state highway 6 (The entire NZ road and rail network is included as part of the Redbaron topo addon) for the next 19 miles (screenshot 14).

I soon reached my Hokitika area photoreal scenery boundary (part of the old Godzone package), which was the reason that I had decided to include this location on my tour, and before making a full stop landing on runway 31, I explored the area around the Kokatahi River (screenshot 15) for a while.

While the photoreal was impressive, the reason I had wanted to fly over it was to see how well it merged in with the Redbaron landclass. As I predicted, the landclass was so accurately colored, that I could hardly tell there was in fact a boundary between the photo texture and updated landclass (screenshot 17).

After a very enjoyable flight, I parked up and switched off the engines for a final time today, completing the third and most enjoyable so far, leg of the tour. I am sorry for the long delay between flights, but I hope what I have shared with you today has captured your attention again.

Thanks for reading, I must go to bed now as it is 1:08am now!

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crosscheck9 · Chief Captain Joined: Oct 07, 2005 Posts: 1033

Your on FIRE CT!! Laughing

_________________
Have you ever had that feeling, where everything just seems right, and you have no cares in the world..As if heaven smiled down upon you, and told you everything was going to be ok?

Yea, neither have I

cheekytrolly · Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 7:19 am Post subject:

NZHK- NZTU- NZTL- NZMC

To make up for the long break between Leg 2 and 3, I decided that I would spend my afternoon completing Leg 4 of the Long White Cloud tour.

Back at Hokitika (NZHK), I started up the Stationair ready to start my next flight, spanning the width of the country, leaving this small west coast town and heading across the Southern Alps mountain range to the east coast city of Timaru (NZTU), 96 miles away.

I seemed to be the only aircraft at the airdrome, and with no manned ATC system, I choose runway 2 for take off, and began my climb up to 7000 feet to clear the mountain tops in front of me.

As I ascended, I peered down at the lush green wetlands below me (screenshot 1). This region of the west coast is famous for its large amount of rainfull, and it looked beautifully recreated in the simulator thanks to the Godzone photoreal textures I had installed.

After 10 minutes I was high enough to level off and cruise above the rocky peaks, which began to turn more and more white colored, as I flew on at 151 degrees, towards the snowcapped highlands (screenshot 2). This time, I felt no need to go exploring off route as the mountain-scape surrounding me was absoulty stunning in every direction that I looked in (screenshot 3). This area was definitely where the Redbaron 20m mesh really comes into it’s own, and although New Zealand has a wide range of landscapes, the central South Island is always the most extreme and most fun to fly over.

They say ‘time flies when your having fun’ and it certainly did for me, because the terrain below me started to smooth out below me, molding itself into foothills, and I began descending down to 5500 feet towards the sea on the other side of the country (screenshot 4).

I managed to pick up NZTU on the radio once I was with 30 miles of the Richard Pearce Airport (named after a local farmer who is known to be NZ’s first man to fly, and believed to have done so before the Wright Brothers), and choose runway 18 to land on as a emerged out of the Ben McLeod Range (screenshot 5) above the Canterbury Plains.

With the sun low in the sky, I arrived over the Timaru district photoreal scenery-which is where I took the preview screenshot of ZK-RBE at the top of the page- (screenshot 6) and made my way towards the city, keeping at an altitude of 2000 feet, before passing over the airport and doing a flyby of the town (screenshot 7).

The sky was turning a fantastic purple colour (screenshot 8) as I banked onto finals and then bounced down to a full stop landing, 1 hour and 6 minutes after departing Hokitika. I taxied to the one story terminal and filled up my 40% full tanks, which didn’t really need topping up yet, but I saw it as an excuse to visit the quaint little airfield addon, from where the South Canterbury Virtual Aero Club operate from.

No sooner than I had stopped, it was time to bring the engine to life again, and switch on the lights as I rolled across the grass to runway 11, ready to take off to Lake Tekapo (NZTL). This small airport was another custom airport built by Robin Corn (the same designer who created the NZTU and all the REAL NZ scenery), nestled in the centre of the mountains which was 25 minutes away back in the direction I had just come from. I had visited Tekapo on holiday a few years ago, and to this day, I still personally think that it is the most beautiful place on the whole of planet earth, thanks to the sheer purity and serenity of its location.

I climbed up to 6000 feet and headed at 274 degrees towards the setting sun (screenshot 9) that created a very peaceful atmosphere over the twilight landscape below (screenshot 10).

The evening flight across the Hunter Hills may only have been a short hop, but the amazing scenery made it feel ever so realistic and I truly recommend you try taking this hop for yourselves (NZTU-NZTL) if you are using the Redbaron mesh.

In the distance, I could see mountains parting, giving way to a glacier fed lake, which I knew was my next destination. I radioed the Tekapo Unicom and announced I would be making a touch and go landing, and with no other traffic around, I descended down towards runway 18 (screenshot 11). Again, I had some photoreal scenery installed for the region which looked magnificent, even in the fading light (screenshot 12).

After rolling along the strip for a few seconds, I accelerated skywards for the last time today, climbing up above the countries second biggest lake, which thanks to the Redbaron freeware NZ landclass and waterclass package looked just as I remember it from real life- clear and blue (screenshot 13).

Instead of flying the standard route to my final stop for today, Mount Cook Village (NZMC), which at a straight heading of 294 was only 19 nm from Tekepo, I decided to be adventures, and headed west up the Cass Glacier, climbing up to 8000 feet to get a good view of the blissful surroundings (screenshot 14).

Once I was high above the mountain peaks again, I spotted the countries highest peak, Mount Cook, to my right (screenshot 15) but then I had to turn away towards it’s lower slopes to make a landing on it’s the at the village settlement base. After turning back eastwards, I found a valley and descended down to 3000 feet until I had a visual on the custom built addon airport. I radioed the traffic frequency and chose to land on runway 31 which faced away from the mountain, and touched down only 21 minutes after leaving Tekapo.

I parked up at the small wooden terminal and switched off the engines (screenshot 16), ecstatically happy with how well the flight went, and glad that the low evening sun had provided me with such a memorable flight experience for leg #4 of the Long White Cloud Tour.

Thanks for following my travels once again,
I hope you look forward to the final leg #5 next week as much as I am!

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