Proof that I made it to Margate on my first dual cross-country is in the top photo. We got off to a shaky start with a little brake trouble after start-up (and Noel will no doubt laugh often about this) but after that it was plain sailing.. or flying I should say. We landed first at Richmond which was just a 15 minute hop away, and then headed towards Ixopo. With maps, stopwatch and landmarks noted, neither of us could find Ixopo airfield and it is maybe no longer in use. It was not intended to land there though and we continued our journey towards the sea and Fredenheim... beautiful little airstrip on the edge of a cliff and in the Oribi Gorge area.
After a touch-and-go at Fredenheim we continued to the coast and made a landing at Margate where we enjoyed an excellent breakfast and watch the airforce helicopter in training. After that we routed along the beach doing some low-flying over the breakers towards Scottburgh and saw the sardines from the air.
Changing frequencies several times we crossed inland into the Virginia general flying area and routed back to Light Flight where we finished off with me doing a couple of circuits. All in all 3,1 hours flying time!!! Excellent exercise.
The 2nd of January 2012 saw us take to the skies for a last-day-before-back-to-work flight from Virginia to Margate. Here Liesl picked us up from the airport to go to San Lameer where they were staying for the week... beautiful beach and pool.. for a morning bit of fun in the sun. The sky was stunning with a few puffy clouds. We picked up a bit of a headwind on the way there (20 knts) as well as a headwind on the way back (10 knts) as the wind tends to be from the south in the morning veering to a north-easter in the afternoon. Anyways, good flying for the first of 2012 and perfect landings :-) 
