Dunedin, Queenstown and Milford Sound

Monday, January 12, 2015

Piper Seneca III.  SDP "Stoop down plane."

Unlike most of the passengers leisurely wandering the streets of Dunedin and visiting the Cadbury Candy Factory, we hit the ground running today.  We departed Port Chalmers at 8:00 a.m. and drove to the Dunedin airport to board our Piper Seneca III airplane destined for Queenstown.  Sadly, we won't have time to explore Queenstown, my favorite area of New Zealand because we're off to explore the glacier and Milford Sound via helicopter.  

Kawarau River

The skies were cloudy and gray, which made for an interesting flight on our small aircraft.  

Karen and Monte in the middle seats.

We flew up the valley to Queenstown passing wineries and the Kawarau Bridge Bungy Jump, the original Bungy, just outside of Queenstown, all of which I recognized from my previous visit.  

Our guide, James Varnham.

Preparing to load in our helicopter flying with pilot Simone.

By the time we reached Queenstown, the skies cleared and we hopped on our helicopters.  A range of jagged peaks called The Remarkables frame the east end of Queenstown, where the kiwi's have a "ski field" on the eastern slopes.   To the west is Lake Wakatipu, a stunning glacier fed deep aqua blue lake that stretches for miles.  We flew over Lake Wakatipu making our ascent up into the mountains.  Our first stop was at Lake Quill, a beautiful glacier fed alpine lake high in the mountains.  Shortly after we landed, a Kea bird bounced happily under the helicopter.  Our pilot told us these alpine birds are attracted to shiny objects and had recently caused considerable damage to one of their helicopters.  

A few clouds add interest and mystery

We landed on the edge of this lake.

Kea Bird.  Eats helicopters.

We watched him carefully to make sure he did not damage our helicopter as it appears to be a LONG, steep walk down the mountain.  Our next stop was atop Tutuko glacier.  I can't imagine a helicopter tour in the US landing on a glacier in between fissures that could slide off the mountain top at any moment, but that's what we did here.  Must be a lack of lawyers in New Zealand.  

Tutuko Glacier

Although it was beautiful and felt like we were on top of the world, there was a feeling of total isolation.   I would NOT want to be stranded here.  
We explored the glacier for about 10 minutes and then took off again to fly over Milford Sound.  

Atop Tutuko Glacier

As beautiful as last year, Milford Sound was a highlight last year and didn't disappoint this year!  The skies were clear with scattered clouds and some lines of low lying fog that added an element of mystery to the mountains and clearly explains why Lord of the Rings was filmed here.

Lunch on Cecile Peak

Gail's Helicopter clings to the edge!

From Milford Sound, we flew to Cecile Peak for a picnic lunch and some golf.  Yes, they had a golf hole on top of the mountain.  We had five helicopters parked, some quite precariously, on the mountain top.  

A Champagne lunch atop Cecile Peak.

Don't step back!!

The pilots spread a delicious lunch on top of boulders consisting of   Smoked Salmon, turkey, cheeses, amazing bread, chutney and fruit.  Oh ... and of course, Champagne.  

As if we didn't have enough to do today, the fun continued at  dinner with 



Bruce and Gail tonight as the ship set sail out into the Tasman Sea.  So far so good.  The Sea seems to be mild tonight.  Keeping my fingers crossed that the crossing will continue this smoothly.

After a fun dinner with Bruce, Gail, Tom and Melody, even the elevator ride was fun!