The first annual "Frog" fly-in was a whole lot of fun. Aviators from the 185 Cessna Skywagon tail draggers club came to the heart of the Catlins in the first ever, Whistling Frog Cafe Fly_In.
The group was led by Ken MacDonald, who commissioned his Southern "Whistling Frog" scout and fellow aviator, Mark Sinclair, of Clydevale near Balclutha to check out the
airstrip and give them the full scoop on the coolest strip in the South. Mark had noticed the neat little strip, on one of his jaunts around the Catlins Coast.
A dozen planes came and went in orderly style on a picture perfect weekend in the Catlins Spring sunshine. Many stayed the two nights at the McLean Falls Holiday Park and enjoyed an evening of
fun and cameraderie at the Whistling Frog Cafe.
Club members checked out many of the local sights and visited Stewart Island and local beaches, including the Cathedral Caves. The pilots were some of the top NZ Skywagon Cessna pilots who could land on a strip that is certainly not the normal run-of-the-mill strip you would find for private pilots!
The group said it was one of the best and most fun of the many fly-ins, that they had participated in. They said, "This is what we live for... Neat places to fly in to ...!"
Many members came from as far away as Auckland and the Hawkes Bay to attend the weekend long event.
Click on an image to view larger image.