CHRISTCHURCH to ROTORUA (CHC-ROT) on NZ ATR 72-500

Since I have a bit more time in between flights I turn the corner from the gate and into the lounge (what a surprise!). Only one of the 3 computers seems to be working so I let the lounge agent know and grab a coffee while I wait for the computer to come free. I did manage to surf FT for a while and later saw the other computers had been fixed.

By the time boarding comes along the fohn nor'wester has reached the ground, is blowing hard and has warmed the temperature to unseasonably high levels.

Unlike most of my recent ATR flights the load is less than full with maybe a dozen empty seats.

We had a bumpy flight until we had climbed far enough above the wind (about 20 minutes). The eastern side of the Southern Alps was clear - good views of the low rolling Canterbury hills giving way to the more angular and eroding mountains of Marlborough, pierced by deep gouges along the faultlines. To the west a thick blanket of clouds piled up over the main divide. We crossed a stormy looking Cook Strait and continued northwards. The peak of Mt Taranaki was poking above the cloud cover to our west. We passed the small Manawatu plains and the hill country behind.

Over the central plateau we were close enough to Mt Ruapehu to see the milky crater lake, the deep gouge of the lahar of a couple of weeks ago clearly visible. There was an enormous amount of debris pulled down the mountain for it to be so clearly seen piled up even at this height. The closeness which it came to polluting Taupo's trout fisheries was seen by the narrow gap between the lahar flow and the rivers which make the headwaters of NZ's longest river, the Waikato River.

We flew across Lake Taupo and descended over the geothermal valleys. A straight in approach past the small city of Rotorua.

One thing I noticed was that, like the earlier flight, the crew seem to only do one run through with drinks and one to collect rubbish (also hand out sweets on ATR but not on 737). It doesn't seem that long ago that cabin crew would do a minimum of 2 runs through with drinks so that you could have a top-up drink if desired. I guess that aspect of service has been traded away for something - although I don't know what it could be.