Helicopter flights are expensive due to their high operational costs but soaring above the remarkables in a helicopter is something I really wanted to do while in Queenstown.
We booked our trip with thehelicopterline.co.nz whose company tagline says’ Above and beyond’. Voila! They have professional and friendly pilots. The on ground staff also is as excited as you and they make the whole experience even more memorable.
Since we were 5 of us we had booked the entire helicopter and customied the entire flight. Our flight duration was 3 hours with 4 landings, yes thats right..4 landings 🙂 Well it doesnt stop there. The flight included wine and lunch at a remote landing. I had gone all in when it came to sightseeing for this trip and ate a sub sandwich most of the days. Well you need to balance 😉
Our pilot, was knowledgeable and friendly and gave us a good commentary on the sights we passed over. He also made sure that he gave people on both sides of the aircraft an opportunity to takephotos by approaching some locations from both sides.
The Trip
The trip starts with some basic formalities including declaration forms and safety briefings at their office. After all the procedures we take off. Â We pass many awe inspiring sights. Queenstown looks stunning from air.
We start flying away leaving the main town behind.
We fly above the skippers canyon. The skippers canyon is narrow and scenic gorge few kilometers away from Queenstown. We see the canyon and shotover river from the top.
The long bridge across the deep valley. I marvel at what man has been able to achieve.
First stop
Our first stop is the Emerald lake which is a small lake tucked away in the remarkables inaccesible by road. You could only hike and reach it. The first sight of the lake where we are supposed to land.
We steadily move closer absorbing the views.
The pilot shows a small landing space on the edge of the lake and we start our descent.
And there we are. Safe and sound landing accomplished.
Second stop
Next was a snow landing. our pilot landed us on the glacier but unfortunately the clouds closed in on us so we couldnt get out of the helicopter. After spending some time we took off again.
Third stop
It was time for lunch now and we had packed lunch with us. After another 20 min ride we landed at a beautiful patch on the remarkables where lunch and wine was arranged. It just couldnt get better than this!
Fourth and final stop
This was the stop on a clearing on the mountain opposite to the main town of Queenstown. Here we got stunning views and photo shots with Wakatipu in the background.
Time to get to the ground. We flew over the lake for some time before returning to the base. What a fantastic and important memory to our life!