New Zealand Discoverer
Day Four – 29 February 2012 – Day of Woooohooooo
Weather: low cloud 15, rain
I woke at 6:40 and thought, what time were we supposed to be up? Then the phone rang. Gotta like it when you wake up on your own just as you’re supposed to get up. I feel officially caught up on the jet lag and overall, it wasn’t a difficult transition.
I rolled my luggage out and checked the sky. Nellie had said to look for blue sky but I saw none, so I went down to breakfast and ran into Nellie on the way and she didn’t feel optimistic that we would fly today. Oh well. There’s always Sunday.
Breakfast was the basic fare again but a better selection than yesterday. The orange juice tasted more real this morning. After breakfast, I ran into Nellie again and she was rushing in the other direction saying “They think they can fly this morning!”
Woohoo!!
I went down to the lobby and she was herding the “flyers” on the bus. We drove a short distance to the helicopter flight office and invaded it. They were only offering the 30 minute flight, so I wouldn’t get to see Mt Cook on this flight. Just a flight up Franz, a landing and down Fox. Beggars can’t be choosers!
Woohoo!
We pay for the flight ($247 Canadian) and get weighed (not telling ya) and we were all given a sticker for our hands to identify which flight we were on. I was green.
The clerk gave us a quick safety lecture – stay in front of the helicopter, don’t play leapin’ lizards under the rotors, put on your seat belt, don’t open the door in flight – you know, the basic stuff.
She led us across the road to the heli-pad where three helicopters were patiently waiting for us, the rotors spinning and my ears ringing.
Woohoo!
They load us on. Four can fit in the back seat and one or two (really skinny people) can fit in front. I got one of the middle back seats and we were off.
Woohoo!
The pilot pointed out stuff as he flew in over the river bed we had walked on the day before and up the glacier. I could get pictures out the side window and straight ahead with the zoom.
I loved the “levitation” feeling.
Yes. My first time in a helicopter.
Woohoo!
He climbed up over the top of the glacier. The cloud ceiling wasn’t much higher so we weren’t getting any sunshine. He moved to the right over towards Fox glacier, pointing out smaller glaciers that were disappearing very quickly.
He said last year they could land on that small glacier but this year it had cracked and he expected it would be gone by next year.
We continued on up over the top to Fox glacier where three helicopters had already landed in a row with a pole indicating where we could park.
We made a very smooth landing and got out on the glacier for a walk around the area where we went mad taking pictures. Not sure if the sun would have made it prettier or blindingly bright.
One of the pilots took our pictures for the usual “pay $20” for this once in a lifetime photo.
We such saps for that, aren’t we?
We spent a good 20 minutes on the glacier, breathing in some nice cool mountain air. Then the pilot herded us back on the copter and did a seat rotation. I got the front seat.
Woohoo!
We took off and I took some video.
We started down Fox glacier and I took some video as we flew over the glacier.
The pilot pointed out huts where the climbers stay on the edge of the cliffs.
Then he showed us a waterfall and hovered, going up to the top of it. Then he moved forward and DROPPED!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Well, if I wasn’t green before, I am now.
LOL
I didn’t have my movie function selected. I could have made you all sick as I’m sure it would have caught the motion. What a thrill.
We continued down the Fox and along the river below to the town where I bus would meet us. We made a smooth landing and I shook the pilots hand for the thrilling early morning, breakfast wrenching flight.
Woohoo!
Back on the bus, we started off towards Queenstown.
I think I left my stomach behind.
Hey, driver!
The winding roads don’t help. They are really twisty at times. What I find cute are the one lane bridges. A sign tells you which side has priority though we had one van try to tell us different. It backed up. We’re a bus. It would have lost.
Nellie says there’s simply isn’t enough traffic to justify a double lane bridge. Interesting way to save a few dollars.
As we drove, Nellie told us about the red deer farming and how it started. The story was pretty well the same as Frank’s story on the first day except that she says the hunters brought in their tails, not their ears. She went on to say that the velvet fur on their antlers is taken before the antlers calcify and that they’re marketed as everything from a treatment for rheumatism and menopause to being used as an aphrodisiac.
Our bus driver agreed but said it was really awkward wearing the antlers.
Heh.
The rain started in shortly after we left Fox township. Too cool. The timing, that is. We proceeded to the Haust River where the people going on the jet boat ride were dropped off. I’m glad I decided not to do the optional. Most of the hills were shrouded in fog, so you wouldn’t see much.
And as it turned out, we drove along the river to pick them up, so that we saw all the same scenery. I’d recommend the optional on a sunny day no problem, but since I did the one in Utah, the $99 cost wasn’t worth it just to experience the same jet boat.
We drove through the Haust Pass – a very scenic drive. Even the sun started to peek out between the peaks. Lunch stop was at a gas station/shop/restaurant on the highway where Nellie recommended the homemade vegetable soup. It was delicious. So was the carrot cake.
We met up with a Trafalgar Bus today and have been following it all day. I’ve been meaning to ask them which TT tour they’re doing.
I picked up an ice cream and we were off through some more scenic hills and glacial lakes. The area is weirdly familiar.
I think I saw Mordor.
And Gandalf was holding a Slow sign next to a paving machine.
We stopped for a photo op before the town of Wanaka which is best known for the annual air show called Warbirds over Wanaka where you can see all kinds of old military aircraft like Spitfires etc.
The scenery flattened out and Nellie went around to collect the $76 for our dinner tonight at the Skyline restaurant on the hill above Queenstown. She also took the final decisions on the Queenstown optionals. In the end, I decided on the river rafting in the morning and the shotover jet boat ride in the afternoon. That will give me a couple hours in Queenstown, hopefully, for some retail therapy.
We made a quick stop at Mrs. Jones Fruit stand where I got a couple of bananas and checked out her amazing rose garden.
Not enough time, but we figure the helicopter ride in the morning cut into our time. Fine by me.
The next stop was at a gold mining town called Arrowtown. The Shotover River is number two in the world for giving up its gold. Klondike is number one. The town is really nice. One long street with shops. It rained but the shops all had a covered walkway.
I found my “cat” figurine for this trip in a shop that I almost passed by, but something caught my eye. It was a chessboard with cats as the pieces.
Boy, was I tempted!!
I got a glass black cat figurine instead.
We definitely could have spent more than an hour here, but time was short and we got 30 minutes. Queenstown wasn’t far away. This town is near a mountain range called the Remarkables where Lord of the Rings was filmed.
Yup. Familiar it is.
Tourism is the primary industry here. You should see the brochures available. Dozens and dozens of things to do here.
We even passed the famous bridge where bungee jumping was born.
We didn’t stop.
We pulled into our hotel in Queenstown. The Millenium. We have less than 40 minutes to get to the Skyline and I really really needed to change. I got my luggage with ten minutes to spare. <whew>
This is another nice hotel. Yeah. Hotel. Not a retreat, condo or villa. It has all the usual stuff – kettle, TV with 7 channels, iron and board, fridge etc. And 20 minutes free on the internet in the lobby.
The pay internet is expensive. Think I read it was .68 a minute to a maximum of $33 over 24 hours.
Seriously, dudes.
I raced out to the lobby and we boarded the bus for the short drive to the gondola station.
We were the first to arrive and immediately went to work on the buffet. What we didn’t eat last night we more than made up for tonight. Holy cow. What is it about buffets?
This one wasn’t bad with soup, veggies, salad, lamb or pork sliced, chicken chow something, scalloped spuds and a bunch of other hot items. Dessert was chocolate mousse and an eclair and carrot cake and some egg white cake and….well, you get the picture.
The view from the dining room is pretty good…when we could see it. The fog obscured our view but after we ate, a couple of us went upstairs to check the view out from the lookout. It was foggy and windy – just like home, but if you timed it right, you’d get a glimpse of the city below.
We couldn’t see much once the fog moved back in so we went into the souvenir shop for a few minutes. Got myself a sweat shirt.
Some of us decided to walk back.
No, not down the hill! We’d roll down that if we did.
And that has nothing to do with the slope.
Took us about 20 minutes to walk back and we managed it without getting lost. The hotel is close to all the shopping. Back at the hotel, I used up my free 20 minutes on the internet no problem (and I’m wondering if I can use my smart phone to get another 20 minutes). I’ll be so busy tomorrow, I probably won’t bother until after dinner (which is at the sheep station tomorrow night).
The forecast for tomorrow is sun and cloud.
And 12 degrees.
And they want me to show up in my swim suit?
Ha!
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