Warbirds Over Wanaka - Sunday

[vilakins]

A bit late because I am slack, but here are a few photos from Sunday, the last day of the airshow. It started off literally freezing - we had to scrape ice off the windscreen - but was so hot later we both got sunburned.


Tiger Moth taking off


The mighty Hercules


Jurgis Kairys in his Juka. Kairys is an aircraft designer, champion aerobatic pilot, and all-round nutter. This Juka stunt plane was designed by him for himself, and is the only one that can hover vertically on its prop. All of the wing surface is ailerons so he can fling the thing around like no one else (see a video here; he does the vertical hover around 1 minute in). He pulls up to 10G and doesn't wear a G suit - crazy mad and amazing to watch.


This is him doing loops around a DC-3.


Harvards in formation to finish with.

Plus bonus photos from the day after in Wanaka.


When we went for coffee in Wanaka before leaving, we met these people in their Packard which they brought over from New York. I asked how they got it here, they said they drove it - from New York to LA, then Auckland to Wanaka. You can see the lake in the background.


Roman toilets at Puzzling World in Wanaka. You can see where the painted wall starts by the discontinuities in the wooden seats and the light hitting the bottom of it. I obviously wasn't standing in the optimal place.


The actual toilets are behind the walls to either side. I was intrigued by the perspex seats I could see in the stalls and took this photo of my favourite. There were also flowers, shells etc, but barbed wire and redback spiders? Win!

This one I didn't see, dammit.

It's a fun place to visit: lots of great illusions including the tilted house which was very disorienting, a maze which we didn't do as it was cold and windy, and a cafe with selections of puzzles on each table which we did do over sandwiches and coffee.

Comments

[mab_browne]

I remember that Otago Museum had the perspex decorated seats many years ago when we were visiting. Certainly more interesting than plain white. :-) And that is a glorious car.

[vilakins]

I remember reeling drunk into a restaurant loo as a student and being stunned by the sight of the perspex embedded with coins. I've seen a few since, usually with seashells. Did you look at the link to the falling-away floor one there?

[mab_browne]

Yes I did and I was glad that it wasn't any bigger a picture. *g*

[jhall1]

Great photos.

"Roman toilets at Puzzling World in Wanaka." Not many people realise that the Roman Empire actually extended as far as New Zealand. :)

[vilakins]

Ah yes, they named it Ultissima Thule but provincial governors refused to serve there due to the lack of roads, aqueducts, temples, and the difficulty of getting a decent Falernian wine sent out.

The toilets do lack the keyhole feature in the front though to allow the use of sponges on sticks.

[pebblerocker]

I love the Harvard formation! I was at MOTAT for Anzac Day and saw seven Harvards fly over. They have such a low, laid-back engine note... not a hurry in the world! Very different to the Spitfire that screamed over after them.

You did see some lovely planes, and I like the optical illusion toilets!

[vilakins]

That would have been very cool!

We're planning to go to the Omaka airshow next Easter; I gather they have some WW1 planes: Sopwith Camel and Fokker triplanes.