JUST A CRUISE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVX, Issue 268, 12 November 1934, Page 5

JUST A CRUISE.

ENGLAND TO SYDNEY.

HAWKE'S BAY MAN'S FLIGHT.

COMMENT ON EXPENSES,

"I suppose it just depends how keen you are whether the flight is worth the money it cost 6. Anyhow, I enjoyed it, although the trip took me six weeks instead of three, as I had hoped," said Mr. S. G. White, who recently made a solo flight from England to Australia in a Gipsy 2 Moth. Mr. White, who is a member of the Hawke's Bay Aero Club, arrived in Auckland from Sydney by the Niagara this morning.

Mr. White, who is a young man, lives at Havelock North, and was educated at the Hastings High School. Nineteen months ago he went to England to join the Royal Air Force, but last winter he suffered an attack of appendicitis and left the Air Force. He had for a long time contemplated making the flight from England to New Zealand, and he purchased a Gipsy 2 Moth from the Hon. Mrs. Montague.

"I took off from England on September 18, intending to take three weeks in a leisurely cruise to Australia, but I soon struck bad weather and was delayed in France for some days," Mr. White said. "Then everything went all right till I reached Jodhpur, India, where I had engine trouble, and it was three days before I hit off again. At Sumatra I caught malarial fever, and lost another ten days, but from then on I had a good run and reached Sydney on November 1.

"Roughly I should say the cost of the flight, including the purchase of the 'plane, would be about £1500. Exchange hits you hard. You lose 25 per cent of your money when you leave New Zealand, and in all foreign countries, you pay pretty dearly when you change any money. In France an English pound note is worth appoximately 10/ and a New Zealand note about 13/. Of course, if you lave any English money when you get back to New Zealand you get 25 percent on. it, but the trouble is you

are not likely to have any after doing the trip. Instruments, petrol and maps all help to swell the cost. Maps alone run you into about £50." Mr. White, whose 'plane arrived on board the Niagara, said he had no dofinite plans. The 'plane was taken to Mann-ere Aerodrome this morning, and Mr. White intends to fly to Hastings tomorrow.