See it (from the air), find it (on Google Earth)

 I flew to Jo'burg last week and returned to George on Tuesday evening.

I've always enjoyed identifying features seen from the air, especially as the plane is on its way up or down when you can see clearly, to gauge my location and orientation.

On the flight out, I spotted some interesting trails just outside of George. I also recognised Oudtshoorn in the far distance and then De Rust, the farm I spent four days visiting a few weeks ago, the Meiringspoort Pass and some other features that I had recently 'flown above' on Google Earth.

Our flight path took us past Parys - my old home town - and then almost following the N1 highway. I identified the Walkerville hills, Turfontein race track, Wemmerpan, my old home suburb in Jo'burg, Linksfield Ridge, my uncle's suburb and other locations as we flew north and then banked sharply to land from the northern 'Denel' side of the airport.

That night, I took to Google Earth to locate some interesting river features (SE of Parys) that I'd seen as well as those trails to the west of George.

On the flight in, there was clear air below the clouds on the approach to enjoy views of the Outeniqua mountains that surround George. Again I took to Google Earth and enjoyed a new game of matching a Google Earth view to my photographs taken from the air.

Check these out...

I was on the western side of the plane so while I didn't have the best light with the sun outside the window, I did get to see super features.

The Google Earth view. Hard to nail the perspective exactly but pretty neat anyway.

In this second view we have the Sentec tower, George Peak (foreground), Craddock Peak (behind) and the Montagu and Outeniqua passes on the left.

Google Earth view of the above photo.

What a blast! A very nice new game to play for the next - and every - time I fly.