Saturday, January 29, 2011

Masterton (MRO) take II


I t was the end of the month and as is traditional at my office, this meant office drinks and a bite to eat. I had about an hour before I left for Wellington train station to catch the 6.18pm to Masterton.  The fare is $17 which for some reason I swear has gone up since my last attempt at this airport.  The train was on time and whilst there were three noisy children in the seats opposite me, it was a good journey.  I got to see a great deal of the countryside whizz by.  Last time I made the trip it was dark for the whole journey and so was a nice surprise to see the greenery.  I had decided that the 40minutes I had between arriving at the station (this time opting for Solway Station which is the one prior to masterton and closer to the airport) I booked a taxi in advance to cut out any potential for delays to the train making me run and possibly miss the flight and yet again get marooned in MRO!

I subsequently arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare and the service down from AKL arriving about ten minutes later.  The turnaround of the aircraft was quick and unlike last visit the skies were clear, although there some dark formations over the Rimutaka range looming toward us.
The take off down the runway to the north seated in my favourite B1900D position, 3A, was fast and it felt faster than normal.  Perhaps because I hadn’t been in a beechcraft for a while....

Ascending we had a great view of Masterton town and the outlying fields.  The trip – as I write this- was quite bumpy with us flying into high level cloud up on our way to AKL.  I have reserved a room at the BK’s Pioneer Lodge for the night.  Only “3 minutes from the terminal”, relatively cheap and new.  I will work out how to get there upon arrival in AKL....

Footnote - Yep, pretty basic accomodation, but all that was needed.  The landing was a little hairy with the Cyclone Wilma still battering the north of the north island.  Seems to have calmed a little for my trip back to WLG via NPL

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