Mountain Flying: the Southern Alps

I had several documents to study before I arrived at FlyInn New Zealand for my mountain and grass strip fkying course:

A summary of VFR flying in NewZealand, prepared by FlyInn. The regulations are not identical to those in the US.
An essay on Airstrip Flying 101: Mastering the Stabilized Approach, by Craig Anderson.
Good Aviation Practice "In, Out, and Around Milford", published by the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand.
Good Aviation Practice "Mountain Flying", published by the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand.

First familiarization flight: Queenstown (NZQN) to Geordie Hill Station with instructor Nick. in ZK-WAX.

This aircraft started life as a 1974 C172M with the PennYan conversion to 180hp. I got to fly the other aircraft on the last day.

Queenstown International Airport (NZQN), or departure point, is the 4th largest airport in New Zealand. The longest of its two pairs of runways is 1777m.

Geordie Hill Station, home of FlyInn NZ, is a merino sheep and beef cattle station (ranch) near Lindis Pass, 25km north of Tarras, a twenty minute flight from Queenstown. It has a private 900m long grass strip.

We enjoyed tea and scones and some familiarization before proceeeding on. The other two "students" were a married couple who both fly professionally for Delta Airlines and have more than 20,000 hours each, plus flying their own Cessna 172 when not flying Airbuses.