A few weekends ago Danielle and I took CDL away for an overnight trip. After studying the charts we decided to head for Tokoroa as it appeared to have accommodation within walking distance of the airfield. A quick check of the NOTAMS showed an overnight drag race but nothing much else to worry about. We flew down via the city and Thames.

Auckland CBD as we are about to switch to City Traffic

The end of the runway at Themes

Short final at Tokoroa

Once on the ground at Tokoroa we enquired about where to tie down for the night. The local modellers were very helpful and pointed out if we stayed the night we would not be able to get off until the following day due to the drag racing. It was soon apparent that I had failed to convert the times on the NOTAM. Not a mistake I will make again!

As we only had a few hours of daylight left we figured we better make alternate plans pretty quickly. We called around Raglan and found that no accommodation was available so Matamata was the next choice. Matamata had plenty of beds so off we went.

We landed at Matamata on the huge grass vector without issue. The airfield caretaker / skydive jump ship pilot was most helpful in showing us the location of the elusive tie down points. After putting CDL to bed and making sure all the controls were locked and level we made our way into town. Danielle has family in the area so we were even able to get a free ride.

After a pleasant night in Matamata we returned back to NZPI only 3 hours late due to fog. It is also important to note, never plan to rely upon taxi companies in rural areas. Just because they say 7 days 24 hours doesn’t mean the will answer your calls!