WHANGANUI / WANGANUI to TAUPO (WAG-TUO) on Air New Zealand Beech 1900D in economy class
It is a fine evening for flying and with stunning scenery in this region I was looking forward to the flight (bag worry notwithstanding).
Shortly after takeoff we turned and looped around the far side of the town centre. Almost immediately we had great views of the volcanoes - near perfect cone of Taranaki to the left (stand in for Mount Fuji in The Last Samurai) and the larger sprawled heap of Ruapehu ahead to the right with the smaller cones of Tongariro and Ngauruhoe tucked in behind Ruapehu.
We roughly followed the Whanganui River upstream, minus the tortuous twists and turns of course (see
link). Every time I fly over this area it amazes me how the rivers have gouged deep paths through the hills in such a wending path.
In no time at all we are close to Ruapehu. The heavy snows of the past winter still evident in a thick cap of snow on the upper slopes. As we flew by Ohakune I saw a train passing over one of the
many viaducts in the area).
We flew very close and just to the west of the summit of Ruapehu. So close that we could see into the crater. The pilot announced we could move around to take photos out both sides if we'd like.
Along the saddle and we flew just to the east of Ngauruhoe's young cone - again close enough to see into the crater. Past the messy jumble of Tongariro's craters and lakes.
After all this, flying the length of Lake Taupo close to the eastern shoreline was anticlimatic although still beautiful. We had a straight in approach, landing to the north.
It was a fantastic flight, which I was sorry was so short. The kind of flight that tourists pay lots of money to take in a small aircraft or helicopter, but in this case is available as a commercial scheduled flight. I disembarked filled with happy thoughts.