Next day in even worse weather was Paul Burrows, an ex-RAF engineer who worked on Tornado F3 fighters in Desert Storm (the first Gulf War). Paul's help was invaluable when we were getting our GP One light sport aircraft ready for its initial CAA inspection. During his flight, we had lots more showers to dodge and ​then we were confronted by a long band of rain cloud that we ducked under to get back to Invercargill Airport.

The video is a compilation from both flights.

"Mud, mud, glorious mud. Nothing quite like it for boiling the blood" to mis-quote a famous hippopotamus song.

It was time to move the Skyleader GP One down to Invercargill Airport. But I left it a week too long. The cattle had made a muddy mess during last weekend's severe storm. The plywood duckboards were too flexible and sank deep into the mud, so it was a frustrating task to continually arrange them in front of the wheels and heave the plane forward. It took an hour to get the GP One out to the paddock only 50 m away. During this exhausting process, I didn't find that a 325kg 'light sport aircraft' or 'microlight' was very light at all.

Now our GP One  is in an open hangar at Invercargill Airport.

I've just been on a four-day trip to South Canterbury, visiting Ashburton, Rangitata Island and Timaru.

The weather was amazing for a weekend in May. I enjoyed a very smooth two-hour flight across the Maniototo basin, Danseys Pass and Hunter Hills to Ashburton Airport. An afternoon of demo flights and discussions with local pilots and aero club people, then off to Timaru Airport before dusk. Sunday was another fantastic weather day with more flights for aero club instructors and pilots.

Late afternoon I flew north to Rangitata Island airfield, home of instructor/aircraft builder Russell Brodie and base for the Geraldine Flying Group. Unfortunately Monday's weather was horrible - strong southerly wind, followed by low cloud and rain. Mid-afternoon, after taking Russell for a short flight, I attempted to fly home. Very low cloud and drizzle meant that I couldn't get past Timaru. I even surprised two ducks as I returned along the coast! So I was hosted at Rangitata Island for another night,  Early on Tuesday, the cloudbase had risen to 1200 feet, so I was able to safely fly south before the predicted NW gales arrived.

It was satisfying to get glowing comments about the GP One from experienced flight instructors. Although they had flown in many microlights before, they were full of praise "This is a very smooth plane. I like it a lot" and "This is the best microlight trainer that I've flown".