Personal Altitude record

Mt Ruapehu

So far, my best flight ever...

I was supposed to do a classic 2.5hrs nav from Hamilton to Taupo, Turangi, Taumarunui and back. But that morning, the instructor in charge to sign me out for this flight, told me that it was a pitty that I haven't planned to fly over Mt Ruapehu only few minutes south of Turangi.

He suggested me to go there, because the weather was perfect. No clouds, almost nil wind...

He briefed me, gave me a survival kit and that was it...

Mt Ruapehu is the highest volcano on the North Island.  Its high is around 9,500ft, so I had to climb up to 11,000ft. This was an absolute amazing experience. The view of the lake was stunning. The lake is acid, and to be honest I don't know if I was hallucinating or not, but when I was overhead I could feel that my nose was itchy... 

Was it caused by the acidity of the lake or my imagination knowing that the lake was acid? I probably would never know!

Anyway, Lake Taupo, Mt Ruapehu and Kawhia Harbor were amazing from the sky. As soon as I landed I thanked the instructor for this amazing suggestion.

The next step will be my CPL cross country qualifier navigation. A 300nm minimum navigation. I've planned to go top north of the North Island to see ninety miles beach, bay of islands, etc...