Finally flew around New Zealand's Largest Lake!

After many years of failed attempts, I've finally managed a 'round the lake' flight. Lake Taupo is New Zealand's largest lake, and is an active super volcano. In this trip we fly over some very un-landable terrain, past mountains, and into the thick of overdevelopment.
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00:00 Takeoff
00:55 Passing Taupo Airport
02:11 Down in the un-landable hills
04:07 Into the Murk
06:24 Escaping Taumaranui
08:20 Cloud surfing the way home
10:09 Landing

[@Motoguzzi750]

Had my first flight there in 1978 in a KA4...In 1991 I did training with Canberra Hliding Club at Bunyan. All in the Blanik. 47 flights never went solo as I spread them out too much. Oh well. Now I dream of owning and flying a Goat ultralight glider. But I live in the wrong country for that. Love your vids....

[@xjet]

Such a buzz getting so much flying for free (after the tow). Same with my discuss-launch-RC-glider. One throw, 45 minutes of fun without an engine or motor to be seen anywhere.

[@PureGlide]

Exactly! gliders are awesome for us cheap bastards (I spent all my money on the glider...) This was the day the drag racing was on, so didn't land out there.

[@RubyS.1]

Bruce!

[@xjet]

@@RubyS.1 Hi... good to see you here.

[@Clif_Brown]

@Pure Glide As a powered pilot in the Seattle area I have been enjoying your gliding videos a lot! When you mentioned Taranaki region, reminded I rode motorcycles all around that Taranaki region years ago, visiting an old friend in New Plymouth. He is sadly no longer with us. Would have loved to fly over that area. The volcano from the ground is spectacular.

[@PureGlide]

Awesome stuff! Yes it's a bit scary to glide to Taranaki, not many land out options :)

[@GC987]

Your videos are really great these days with your charts and you explaining where you're going to try and head.... left or right and where it looks good & not so good. Very enjoyable viewing here in the northern hemisphere where temperatures are now negative !

[@ronaldglider]

Great video - please explain these convergence lines one day!

[@PureGlide]

Yes I need to finish my convergence video!

[@Johan-ex5yj]

Until Tim gets his convergence video done, you can look at this one that Rudi made >> kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZPHXqekqa-CsNU

[@diablouser]

What can I say. Up here in Oregon we haven’t seen the sun in almost 8 days and it looks like another week or so before it could happen. Having little refreshers like this will inspire me to get my304 MS Shark ready for about three months from now. thanks again

[@MyChannel-bh6sc]

I feel you, although those are rookie numbers :D I had to check the official records and the last time there was a sunny day (less than 7/8 clouds for at least a few daytime hours) here in Helsinki was on the 13th of November, a mere 24 days ago. Eagerly waiting for the spring and the upcoming gliding season though!

[@sarelventer11]

One of your better flights. You make a difficult task seem easy. I enjoyed the commentary.

[@PureGlide]

Thanks Sarel :)

[@Johan-ex5yj]

Always a good day when I get to share another awesome flight with my Mate Tim! :-) Thanks for sharing, Tim.

[@vnvkv]

Well, now we know for sure that gliders CAN go around. Around a lake at least 😄

[@PureGlide]

Exactly!

[@TheTonynoble]

Pissing down here in Whitianga, so nice to enjoy a great flight with my morning coffee. T.

[@jacekpiterow900]

New Zealand seems to be like a large golf course. Super fun for landing gliders.

[@PureGlide]

Haha with fairways of forests

[@AlphaAscentMotivation]

What an amazing point of view, seeing the entirety of such a big lake up there.

[@stuartnaylor3696]

Great flight! Thanks for sharing Tim 👍

[@The_Modeling_Underdog]

A challenging task indeed, Tim. That was truly some rough terrain. Congratulations on the 'round the lake flight, mate. Cheers.

[@PureGlide]

Thank you!

[@alianjohnson6035]

thanks for taking me flying, cheers

[@charlieirvin5898]

Epic flight! Taupo looks beautiful from the air :)

[@PureGlide]

That’ll be you soon when we take the club there! It is stunning from the air, almost as lovely as Raglan :)

[@sloboniface]

Enjoyed watching your flight, as I sit here in freezing UK. 😁

[@PureGlide]

Glad you enjoyed it! We are being pelted by a storm at the moment. This last weekend was the only nice weekend since early Nov...

[@AlphaAscentMotivation]

Hey as an idea I think it would be really cool if you could do a mission for us and show us some scenery of the Rotorua lakes. As well as Mount Tarawera, the forests, and all that kind of thing, basically the Rotorua area.

[@PureGlide]

Yeah hopefully will do sometime soon! Cheers

[@thisnightcreeps]

Amazing, made it look easy!

[@Will-ui7dv]

Awesome flight, thanks for sharing it!

[@PureGlide]

Thanks for watching Will, glad you're always up for a vid

[@TijsVsN]

Nice flight!

[@beachforestmountain4269]

Good tune you chose for the video.

[@PureGlide]

Thanks for the feedback!

[@GlideYNRG]

good to see Tim. Beautiful country . Going to be a few more weeks before my next flight unfortunately.

[@PureGlide]

Thanks Ryan, if it helps it’s been raining here for a month!

[@GlideYNRG]

@@PureGlide harvest time here and the weather is still making its mind up. Was perfect conditions last week. 10k in the Puchacz.

[@johnrobertson9945]

Epic flight Tim

[@stephaniekent8483]

very impressive flying well done :)

[@PureGlide]

Thanks!

[@siliconebobsqpts]

Ah Spring in NZ, nice flight

[@loveatfirstflight2370]

Nice flight Tim.

[@PureGlide]

Thank you!

[@cbadcruiser]

love your vids

[@PureGlide]

Thank you! Love your comments

[@cbadcruiser]

@@PureGlide New Zealand is such a beautiful country with bright green hills, snowcapped rocky mountains and even some pretty good surf (if you know where to look) and I love visiting when I can. But here in Sothern California I don't think there are enough places for me to take up gliding as a hobby as much as I would love to.

[@davesgliding]

Nice flight! Bit of whistle in the audio though. Are you having problems with the canopy seal?

[@PureGlide]

Yeah I'm very aware of that! yes need some canopy sealing.

[@davesgliding]

@@PureGlide Yah, that's one of my projects for next spring when the season starts again here. The seal is getting old and it's time to replace it.

[@bigboyair6824]

How do glider rego's work on flight radar? I.e search OP doesn't show up? Was flying around taupo day u were there and could see you on fish finder ;)

[@PureGlide]

Hi try searching for ZK-GOP which is my full registration. Cheers!

[@RubyS.1]

If you came to fly in the US are all the radio calls and rules for flying pretty much the same?

[@PureGlide]

Most rules are the same or similar, but there are a few differences. Our gliding rules and training are closer to Europe. Radio calls are pretty standard worldwide. Cheers!

[@richardgardner3136]

Close my triangle? 11.10 am Uk time

[@durtdominique401]

Looks like you're texting (5:00). Texting and flying, is it safe?😬

[@PureGlide]

Obviously you have to pick your moments, but yes generally it's fine. It's not like driving a car where you take your eyes off the road for 3 seconds you can clip a car coming the other way or miss a corner. However if I'm flying close to other aircraft, or near the ground, I'll avoid it along with any other distractions.

[@holobolo1661]

doncha just hate it when it's overdeveloped and there's no land-outs but there's a convergence.

[@PureGlide]

haha that's a good thing!