3rd September 2018 (Belated Fathers Day)

Annette had a surprise for me , all I knew was that I had to be prepared to get on Ethel on a ride. 

At the appropriate time we got on Ethel to go on an adventure. We headed out the way to Mele Beach, then turned right (hey this isn't the way to Mele Beach) at the roundabout after Manples, and took the road towards the Bauerfield Airport.  So me thinks it wasn't a surprise lunch at the Mele Beach Bar, watching the latest race from the MotoGP on their huge TV screen. Still me sitting on Ethel guessing were we where heading to. We arrived at the airport and headed to the domestic terminal. We were met by our friend and Air Taxi pilot Josh Kaboha. We went to Air Taxi office and waited while Josh went to sort something out.  He returned and headed out onto the ramp where he gave Annette a set of earmuffs.  I thought, cool we are going for a site seeing flight.  It was MUCH better than that, my very special darling and love of my life had purchased a 30 minute training session on a Cessna 172.  Josh was the pilot, and Annette was the passenger.

Yours truly and Josh

Action shot with me on the controls, I flew the aircraft from the start up at the beginning of the runway. We had some low cloud to fly through

Annette sat in the back and was the team photographer . The scenery was fantastic. We have many photos during the flight, here are a few. For those of you of aeronautical bent, we flew at 7,000 feet except when we descended to 1,200 feet as we flew in over Port Vila Harbour on approach to the airport to land.

Iririki Island from 1,200 feet. This is the Island Resort, very nice place to go for a day trip if you are in Vila. Serves great food, and has several swimming pools ( as well as resort accommodation)

On approach to land

Phew there is the bit of tarmac we want to land on.  All too soon the lesson was over. Hey Captain Dave Morgan (Air NZ) the runway looks good to me for Air NZ to resume flights to Vanuatu, just saying 👍😃. Thank you Josh for a wonderful experience, and thank you Annette for the very special surprise 💗