Today was my last full day on the North Island. I crossed to the West Coast and went to Bridal Veil Falls. It’s similar in size to the Bridal Veil Falls in Oregon in the Columbia River Gorge. At this waterfall, your access point is a the top and you can hike down a trail to a couple of different viewpoints, or all the way to the bottom if you wish. I did attempt a flight at this falls with the DJI Inspire. One of the upper viewpoints was open enough for good GPS reception and a fairly unobstructed flightpath. I took off and the winds were batting me around like crazy. It wasn’t just strong wind, it wasn’t just gusty wind, it was strong gusty winds. I tried to stabilize a hover for a couple minutes and then decided it just wasn’t going to work. So now I’m 0 for 3 on the waterfalls I’ve tried to fly. Maybe I’ll break the jinx on the South Island.
After the Falls, I went on to the West Coast town of Raglan for a lunch of Fish and Chips (which they do very well here in NZ).
I’m in a campground now for my last night and I’ve already finished about 80% of my packing. In the morning I will drive the motor home back to the rental company in Auckland and they will then drop me at the airport for my noon flight to Christchurch.
This lazy looking stream is about to have a rude awakening in the form of a 160ft cliff.
The view from the top of the falls.
The mist from the falls gave me a nice rainbow.
After the falls, there’s one short rapid, then it’s back to being a lazy stream again.
This is the forest reserve than the stream flows through on the way to the Tasman Sea.
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