First time in a helicopter

Helicopter Scenic Flight

Kim’s sister Jo left us yesterday and we gained Russell and Marilyn as our guests.  After two relaxing days, it’s time for some excitement for me.  I had booked a 25 min helicopter scenic ride with an alpine landing for NZD138, discounted from the regular NZD280 (pre-Covid) and then NZD199 (while international tourism is still limited).  We’ve done several of these discounted offers over the two years of the pandemic.

I had booked for 1100 but was shifted to 1000 due to lack of numbers.  After a safety briefing, we were led to the waiting Eurocopter and took off slightly ahead of schedule on my first-ever helicopter ride.

We flew over the airport area and headed north to Skipper’s Canyon.  It was a very smooth ride and I enjoyed having the front passenger seat.  It was only about a 10 min ride before we landed at a spot amongst the tussock at about 5300 ft.

The pilot made a few reminders regarding safety before helping us out for a very short walk to a viewpoint.  It was absolute stunning and we couldn’t have chosen a better day.  [Edit:  If we had come tomorrow, there would probably be a light dusting of snow in the morning.]

We made the short flight back to base (this time with me in the rear) where Kim picked me up and we commenced our drive to Wanaka via Cromwell where he collected a refund for some of the worst peaches we had ever bought (fortunately I was able to salvage them by stewing).

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Wanaka

Russell shares a passion for cars with Kim so we stopped at Highlands Motorsports Park race track.  He asked at the ticket counter if we could enter for NZD5 (instead of the normal NZD30) rather than book from a third-party site that did it for NZD5 (which would mean they get even less).

We didn’t realise that the third-party site didn’t allow entry till the next day.  Anyway, it got too complicated and the lady let us all in for free!

But Marilyn was in the car.  Kim asked “Is Marilyn out of the car yet?”.  I said loudly “No, I told her there was nothing to see and she might still be sitting in there!”  That would have amused some of the car enthusiasts waiting to buy the tickets.

There were lots of cars on display in a museum overlooking the track.  But the best part of the visit were the toilets.  Individual toilets were decorated in various themes but the urinals were shaped in various musical instruments and former POTUS Donald Trump.  They all play tunes (in the corresponding instrument) when they’re being used but Donald speaks to you.  They have squeeze bottles so that those aren’t ready to pee can also be entertained.

At Wanaka town, the lake was lower than I can ever remember.  We grabbed lunch at a café before heading back to Queenstown.