Helicopter Flight Jan 14

On the morning of Monday, January 14th we awoke to a mostly sunny morning which looked promising for the helicopter ride over Mt. Aspiring and the glaciers. This is the flight that had been cancelled on Saturday due to bad weather. We called Aspiring Helicopters (www.aspiringhelicopters.co.nz) at 8:00 and were told to show up at 10:00 am.

We drove to the helicopter base which is located in the Matukituki Valley 20 minutes’ drive west of Lake Wanaka. We were met by Charlie and his daughter Alex Ford. Charlie told us that, along with a brother and his father, he bought the farm called Cattle Flat Station, where the the helicopter hanger is located. It’s a fully operational sheep cattle and deer station (station is what NZ’ers call a ranch) near the entrance to the Mount Aspiring National Park. When we arrived we were lucky enough to witness a roundup of some 4-5,000 of Charlie's sheep taking place, which the sheep dogs were separating the lambs from the herd.
























After some picture taking of the roundup, we followed Charlie to one of his modern fleet of helicopters which we boarded along with another couple who were from Massachusetts. Charlie, who told us that he started as a farmer and took up flying as a hobby which mushroomed into a business, has extensive knowledge of the local area and its history. He said his flying business is now run by his daughter Alex Ford and her husband but he still does some of the flying. They take skiers in the winter heli-skiing and in the summer adventurers to the mountains and also take tourists scenic flying over the glaciers.






















Charlie flew us over his ranch. We saw his sheep, his deer which number in the thousands and the beautiful valleys which had several farms nestled in them.



































We then flew through the valleys and atop a mountain for a snow landing.
We saw the stunning ice blue glacier fields, waterfalls and snow covered peaks.

Following are several other shots taken during our flight. The bird photo is that of a Kea, an endangered Alpine parrot found in the South Island's high country.


































































































































At the end, after leaving the heliport we drove past the large camping ground on the side of Lake Wanaka occupied mostly by New Zealanders who come to this spot year after year, and one lone cyclist.

The cyclist reminded us about what is in store for us in the North Island in a week or so.




































Tomorrow we leave for Te Anau. We had thought we would not like our stay in Wanaka, thinking that it would be a touristy town with a lot of “neon.” But we were wrong. It is a great place. While touristy, the tourists are all kiwi’s, and they are extremely friendly and people. They are here on holiday. During the non-holiday season Wanaka has a population of 7500 and twice that number in the summer months. The kiwi’s take the month of January off as their kids are out of school until February 4th. Maybe the town is different when international tourists are the majority. Anyway, we are not in a rush to leave as our stay here has been enjoyable and interesting.

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