Satellite
  • Day 21

    Flying high!

    November 1, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    We woke up to another beautiful day which meant that our planned flight over Mount Cook should be OK. At 8:30 had a call from the airfield, “Mr Scott, about your flight this morning ( Oh no I think!) would it be OK with you if the flight went at 10:30 rather than 9:30 for the conditions may be slightly better” Of course for we have plenty of time on our hands.
    The airfield is only about a ten minute drive away so once we’d packed the car we set off. It is only small but they run various trips from there many using helicopters. We watched a helicopter winch up a crate of bikes and then fly off towards glacier. It returned to collect a group of cyclists. We were in a small plane and there were just six of us including the pilot, bit different to a Dreamliner!
    We took and flew straight toward the mountains and what a sight it was, quite fantastic to be so close to the summit of Mount Cook and the Franz Josef pass. Had a couple of moments when we hit some turbulence and we we were rocking around and dropping but this apparently is quite normal. A wonderful experience!
    Once we were safely back on terra firma we set off stopping at Twizel for a sandwich and then a couple of hours drive to Wanaka. It I was a beautiful drive through fertile valleys and fantastic landscapes. The weather was kind to us with the temperature peaking at 28 degrees!
    Wanaka is another lovely place perched on the banks of Lake Wanaka with the mountains surrounding it. It is certainly geared up for tourists with a number of bars and restaurants on the lakefront. It is a year round resort for skiers come here during the winter.
    Once we had checked into hotel which is in a great position on the lakefront we walked in to town to do a bit of shopping and bumped into Jim and Sue our friends from earlier in the week so we had a couple of drinks with them swapping stories of what we’d been up to. We agreed to meet again later in the evening to watch the rugby.
    Went back to our hotel to change for dinner at Kira a restaurant that is recommended in Wanaka and it was excellent. So we then met up with Jim and Sue in a bar that had a big screen for the rugby. It was though very quiet with only about a dozen or so of us watching the match of which enough said! At half time the bar provided us with complimentary sausage rolls. Nice touch.
    We have have two further full days here which we are looking forward to.
    Read more