|
|
Lake Wainamu
[26] Lake Wainamu is the gateway to the underworld. Gabrielle sits on its shores waiting for Xena to return with Marcus in MORTAL BELOVED (16/116).
"At least there aren't any villagers to guard." Waiti Stream
[27] Waiti Stream has hosted: CHARIOTS OF WAR (02/102), known for its great chariot chase scene; THE RETURN OF CALLISTO (29/205), where Perdicas dies in the stream bed; and THE DELIVERER (50/304), Boadicea and Xena give the invading Romans a warm welcome.
Boadicea and Xena ready for a little Roman bashing in THE DELIVERER (50/304). Piha
[28] Resume the simulation and continue flying down the coast. You should be able to see Piha and the entrance to the harbor.
Raetahinga Point is to the left, Piha is just in front of the plane, and the entrance to the harbor marks the end of the second leg of our flight.
Top down view of Piha. Clicking on the photo will take you to Bevis King's article on Piha. Back To The Airport: The Third Leg Of Our Trip
Manukau Harbour Entrance
[29] Once you get to the entrance of Manukau Harbour make a two-minute turn until you have a heading of 60 degrees. Auckland International Airport is about eight minutes from the harbor entrance.[30] Once you have the correct heading, level out, and pause the simulation. Take this opportunity to call up the Map View to confirm your heading.
A heading of 60 degrees should take you slightly south of the airport.
CLICK HERE to see a larger graphic.Approach and Landing at Auckland International Airport
[31] You should be able to simply fly on this heading until you see Auckland International. The airport will appear to your left.
[32] Make a gentle left turn. This should line you up for an easy landing. Cut your engine. Extend your flaps and you are good to go.
The airport is on the left and you are just south of it.
CLICK HERE to see a larger graphic.
Capturing Proof Of The Trip
[33] What is a trip without pictures? Since this was a virtual trip, I needed to use a virtual camera. I used Paint Shop Pro with its screen capture feature for this article. As I ran Flight Simulator through its paces, I simply paused the plane and used the Shift key and number pad to locate a suitable photo op. Then I pressed the default capture key F11. Presto! I now had photo to edit in Paint Shop Pro.[34] There are several screen capture programs out there. You certainly are not limited to Paint Shop Pro. With a good screen capture program you can create 'photo' albums of your trips.
Notes On System Requirements
[35] The Microsoft Flight Simulator Box recommends the following:[36] Required:
[37] Optional:
- Multimedia PC with a Pentium 166 MHz or faster microprocessor
- Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows 98 operating system or Windows NT Workstation operating system version 4.0 with Service Pack 3
- 32 MB of RAM for Windows 95 or Windows 98, 64 MB recommended; 64 MB for Windows NT 4.0
- 350 MB of available hard-disk space, 430 recommended
- 50 MB of hard-disk space for swap file
- Quad-speed or higher CD-Rom drive
- Super VGA , 16 bit color monitor required
- Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device, joystick or flight yoke recommended
- Microsoft DirectSound 7.0 API-compatible sound card with speakers or headphones for audio
[38] Requirements for multiplayer play:
- 3-D graphics accelerator card or chip with 4 MB memory, compible with Microsoft Direct3D version API
- SSE or 3D Now instruction set microprocessor
- Force Feedback peripherals compatible with Microsoft DirectX 7.0 API
To play on the MSN gaming zone, you need to have one of the following browsers: Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.02 or later or Netscape Communicator 4.0 or later
- 28.8kbds or faster modem, local area network with TCP/IP or IPX Protocol, or null-modem cable required for connection to other systems
My system varies on the above as follows:
[39] To get Microsoft Flight Simulation to run smoothly on my system I upgraded to 128 MB of memory. In fact this article resulted from my efforts to tune my system for the best performance possible. As I tinkered under the computer's hood, I concluded that memory first, then a 3D card, and finally a fast microprocessor, are the most critical elements to a realistic flight experience. I also highly recommend a joystick or a flight yoke for further realism.
- 400 MHz AMD K6 II microprocessor
- 128 MB of memory
- Vodoo3 3000 AGP video card with 16 MB of memory
- 48x CD-Rom drive
- Joystick, throttle, and rudder pedals
Resources
Aeronautical sites
Jane's-Aviation
Related books, politics, products, and news, the Holy Grail of serious aviationNZ Aerial Mapping Ltd-Custom maps
Scanned topographic maps of New Zealand on CD.
Books
Auckland city LibrariesFriar's Guide to New Zealand-Bed and Breakfast accommodations
'Zoomable' map zeroes in on specific area, matching book for sale.Holiday Homes to Rent Guidebook-2000 Edition
Homes to rent in Bethells Valley and Piha, book has more extensive listings.
Flight simulator sites
Abacus Publishing
Flight simulator add ons, third party reference books, design resources, scenery.Flight Simulator World Magazine
Subscription site, tutorials, back issues.Flight Simming New Zealand Style
New Zealand scenery for Microsoft Flight Simulator 98, New Zealand Flight planner, links.Jane's Combat Simulations
Various combat flight simulators, online ordering, and patches.Jeppesen SIMCharts
If you fly in a simulated world you will need simulated charts.MicroSoft 2000 Flight Simulator
Official site, tech support, patches, links.Simviation
Third party add ons, aircraft, panels, scenery.
Map sites
Atlapedia Online
Physical and Political MapsAn Atlas of Cyberspaces
Maps of cyberspace.Land Information New Zealand
Government services.Mapquest
'Zoomable' maps.Omni Resources
Topographic maps for puchase.Pete Zed's Web Page Thingy
Maps of New Zealand by local with a nice overview of New Zealand.PolyMEDIA Ltd.
CD-Rom atlas of New Zealand.Saint John Prep School
Map links to a variety of sites.University of Texas at Austin
Check out the PDF Political and Reference maps of Oceania.A World of Maps
Maps for purchase.
Hiking/Tramping/Sight seeing
New Zealand Travel & Tourism Guidebook
Auckland area beaches.VirtualTourist
Tales of visits to New Zealand.Waitakere Ranges Regional Parkland The official government site.
"Xena: Warrior Princess: The locations"
A great article by Bevis King, another Whoosh! author. It covers his trip to the coastal filming locations of Xena: Warrior Princess. Several photos and a clear narrative give you the feeling that you are there.
Whoosh! articles
"Backdrop To Xena: Warrior Princess, Untamed Coast: A Book Review""Confessions Of A Civilian Extra On The Set Of Xena: Warrior Princess"
Variations On The Basic Proposed Flight
- Use another plane to cover the same route.
- Try using the helicopter for some quality hover time or sites of interest. Try landing the helecopter at Bethells Beach.
- Pop up the Map View and drag the plane icon to your desired destination. Set the altitude and poof you are there. (Think of this as the Earth Final Conflict Talon shuttle simulation.) Try to pop in at each destination point on the flight plan map.
- Get multiplayer booted up and fly with a friend.
- Take screen captures of each other's plane as you fly along.
- Try a night flight. This is quite a challenge to figure out when to make your turns. Muriwai Beach and Piha do not have lights and using the top down view will not really help that much.
- Use the sailplane. While on the ground at Auckland International, choose the Map View, and set the altitude for 10,000 feet. Try to follow the same triangular course and make it all the way back to the back to the airport.
Disclaimer
No, I am not a pilot in the real world. All pilots who have read this article already know this. The flight I proposed probably violated umpteen dozen flight rules in the real world. The maps used for the article are not appropriate for aeronautical use. I found them drifting about on the net and they are not by any stretch of the imagination suitable for real world flight. My main concern was to create an easily reproducible fantasy flight over the filming locations of Xena: Warrior Princess.
Biography
Gregory R. Swenson
I'm an English teacher at Canyon Springs High School in Moreno Valley, California. I usually teach general English survey classes like English I, English II, and English III. Every once in a while I get to teach Science Fiction/Fantasy or Detective/Gothic Fiction. I've sponsored the role-playing club for eleven years and the Japanese animation club for two years.
I'm currently collecting robots representative of screen and television either in model or toy format. Sometime in the future I'll post pictures of them to the web. If anyone knows where I can get a Johnny Five, please let me know.
Bret Rudnick and I went to Pacific High School in San Bernardino, CA at the same time but never met. It was bizarre but fun bumping into him on-line over Xena and WHOOSH.
Favorite episode: REMEMBER NOTHING (26/202). Xena emerges from her vision with a strong feeling of who she is and what she must do.
Favorite line: Xena to Diana in WARRIOR...PRINCESS (15/115): "Well, you're going to have to convince people you're me, and I like dark."
First episode seen: I saw was SINS OF THE PAST (01/101). I popped in at the "fight on heads" scene and found my "focus."
Least favorite episode: SACRIFICE II bums me out because Callisto is gone. Of course Strife came back in HTLJ: Yes Virginia There Is A Hercules so maybe there is "hope."
Previous SectionTable of Contents
