Helicopter

We began our day by changing our schedule, which we had already changed the day before. We were having a hard time deciding which helicopter package to book. Some of them were combined with jet boats and luges (wheeled not iced). Some landed on snowy peaks, others on actual glaciers.

Our first attempt had us doing a Fox glacier landing. We called the booking agent last night and asked where to meet the helicopter. "It's about a five hour drive from Queenstown," he said. Whoops, too far. They were, however, willing to do a special flight that left directly from Queenstown for the low, low price of 3,000USD. We considered this for 3 or 4 milliseconds before canceling our Fox glacier plans.

This morning our new plan had us doing the jet boat and helicopter package, but we were somewhat dismayed that the "snow" landing wasn't technically a glacier landing. To be honest, though, we weren't 100% sure we would be able to tell the difference. The kicker, though, was that the combined package gave us less time in the helicopter. Eventually we settled on a helicopter-only glacier landing package. Since this one departed at 2:00pm, we had some time to kill before take-off. We decided to make a quick detour to Arrowtown and take some scenic shots on the way.







Somehow we ended up at a winery for a tasting. The vineyard, Amisfield, actually exports to the US, but the wines we tasted were just so-so. Or so we thought. After tasting the 2007 and 2008 Pinot Noir the sommelier asked me if I could taste a big difference. I realized that my nose was stuffed up, but that it wouldn't have mattered anyway because I wasn't paying very close attention. I said "I dunno," and admitted that I probably wasn't giving these wines a fair shake. Later we read a New York Times article that rated that 2008 the best Pinot Noir in New Zealand. Wine connoisseur, I am not. I like Zinfandels better anyway.






Lunch in Arrowtown, however, was delicious. Saffron opened at noon, and the weather was gorgeous so we ate outside. The pork/squid/slaw salad we had was scrumptious, as were the mussels and lamb main dishes. Here the appetizers are called entrees, confusing the ordering process a little, but this time we got just the right amount.






Here we are enjoying the salad in the sun.






The late helicopter departure gave us plenty of time to digest as we moseyed back to Queenstown. We arrived a few minutes early and met our pilot, Mr. White, in the lobby. He seemed like a nice enough guy, if a little reserved. Three other passengers joined us, making it a six-person flight.





Ming and I got the front two seats for the ride out.






A minute after getting strapped in, we were taking off.






Ok, that last picture was of a different helicopter, but I'm pretty sure that is what we looked like as well. We rose quickly over the airport and pivoted to face the mountains beyond.





It was a short ride to some stunning scenery.





The weather was perfect for a sky tour of the surrounding peaks, whose names I've entirely forgotten.





The ride was remarkably smooth.





When some glaciers came into view, we swung down for a closer look.





Closer...





Closer...





Too close!





With some expert heli-hovering skills, our pilot kept us safely away from the craggily blue ice, and a few minutes later we were searching for a flat spot to land.





Found a spot.





The view was staggering.





Made me wish I'd brought my skis. The pilot actually ran heli-ski trips as well, but to convince Ming to do that I probably would have had to pay off the pilot to sneak the skis onboard, dump us on the peak, and fly off. The trip was already pretty pricey, so I settled for some photos.





The pilot left the helicopter running for the duration of the 10 minutes we were on the ice. We ducked back under spinning the blades (okay so they were well out of reach), and climbed back aboard.







We snapped one last shot as we left.





The pilot, sensing that we were sad to see our heli-experience end so soon, tried to make conversation over our headsets. He pointed to his controls and explained what the various gauges were for.






I wish I had noticed at the time the bright blue control at the bottom right, and asked him what it's primary function was. Then he might have asked whether we should test it out, and we might have gotten to listen to some U2 on the way back. And maybe, just maybe, he would have loosened up a little upon hearing the music, taken a look at his passengers, realized we were all the adventurous sort, and suggested we "have a little fun."

Hypothetically, he could have double checked that there was no other air traffic in the vicinity and if it was all clear, he might then have asked us all to turn our cameras off for the next five minutes. As the passenger in this situation, I would probably have been confused, but excited that we might get to experience something out of the ordinary.

Over the next few minutes we would make swooping passes over a number of peaks and ridges. At times it would feel as if the helicopter were headed straight for the mountain-side and at the last minute we would pull up and see blue sky in front as the mountain-side fell away along with our stomachs. Whatever queasiness we felt, however, would be largely psychological, since our pilot could deftly diminish the g-force effects of each mountain-side swoop.

At the end of these escapades, Mr. White (whose name I might now realize had been changed to protect his identity), would probably turn to us and say "that never happened," the suggestion being, of course, that he might get into a considerable amount of trouble for galavanting among the peaks with tourists in tow. As we flew back to Queenstown, I am sure I would thought to myself, "that's the coolest thing that's never happened to me, but I wish I had the photos to disprove it didn't."

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After the breathtaking helicopter ride, Ian was a little spent, but the day was so beautiful that I couldn't just let it go to waste! So I talked him into driving us to Lake Wanaka, roughly 50 minutes away.

I didn't realize that the road was essentially miles and miles of twists and turns... oops. Great scenery though! Too bad there weren't any turnoff points to stop for pictures.

Wanaka is essentially a luxury vacationing spot - apparently lots of expensive lakefront property to be had - but for most of the world, it's a day trip from Queenstown. Some fellow tourists from China told us that the town essentially shuts down after 7pm. The view, however, did not disappoint.






Ian put me on camera duty while he went in search of a good napping spot under the trees. I walked along the shore for a bit, snapping more shots of the famous lake. Okay, not sure if it's really that famous - but Wikipedia tells me that it was given prominent mention during Mission Impossible 3. Apparently Tom Cruise and his movie wife really loved it here.







Wanaka is known as the gateway to Mt. Aspiring National Park - that was another hours drive along the lake though. We didn't quite make it that far, but we did manage to hit Glendhu Bay.







It was so nice having all this amazing scenery just to ourselves - nary a soul in sight - not even a sheep!







Wished we could've stayed longer, but the sun was starting to go down.







One more time through the twisty mountain path back to Queenstown.







Busy day tomorrow...jet-boating...and...wait for it...skydiving!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Queenstown, NZ

Milford with a side of Ribs

It's a bright and relatively-early morning for our Milford Sound cruise. We've really been blessed with spectacular weather today.  Or, as Ian would say, "GORGE-ous" weather.  While Ian was catching up on some blog-writing, I went outside to snap a few shots by the lake before our tour began.

 

The shuttle bus picked us up from our hotel at 9:30 so that we could join the main tour bus down in the town centre.  Most of the tour's participants were doing this as a day trip out of Queenstown.  Milford is actually only 70 kilometers or so from Queenstown as the crow flies, but since the crow would be flying over a mountain range and a lake, people traveling to Milford must take the longer 240 kilometer route, which takes roughly 5 hours.  Te Anau is about 3 hours into the trip, so the folks already on the bus had been up since 6AM -- certainly glad we weren't one of them!

The first stop en route to Milford was the Mirror Lake. This was probably my favorite photo shot of the day -- great reflections in the still water of the surrounding mountains.

It was too bad that we could only stop for a few minutes -- Ian could have stayed here for a good hour at least. 

 I've taken this trip as a chance to learn a little bit more about photography -- read: finally took the time to figure out what the AV, TV, and ISO controls on my camera meant.  Still pretty green, but it's a start?  Here's my attempt at an action shot.

The buses were clearly designed for scenic touring -- they had huge picture windows on all sides and all glass tops.  Certainly glad I put on sunscreen this morning. 

Ian, of course, was focused on the wildlife. 

Though you'd think the sign is pretty self-explanatory,  we've apparently got lots of picture-illiterate folks visiting these parts as the Kea were constantly drawn to the tour buses.

I figure we should include at least a couple shots with us in them to prove that we're not just uploading stock photos.

A little bit here about the etymology of Milford Sound.  As we were informed many times during our tour, it is not technically a sound at all, but a fjord. A sound is a land mass that is carved out by water, which at some point recedes, and then is again partially refilled, characterized by a sloping sea floor and sloping mountain sides.  By contrast, a fjord is formed when a land mass is carved out by a glacier and is characterized by a rather flat sea floor and dramatic vertical sides.  As we got closer to our destination, it became more obvious that we were nearing glacier territory.

Around 12:30, we finally arrived at the port.  We disembarked from our coach buses and boarded the boats.

Milford, particularly on a sunny, clear day like this one, is really a beautiful thing.  It's the combination of snow-capped mountains and clear green-blue water that makes it unique.

It's actually the uncommon day that sees Milford without any rain clouds. As the ship captain informed us, it rains nearly 200 days of the year in Milford. Apparently though, visitors who catch it on of those days shouldn't be too disappointed -- we saw a couple lovely waterfalls sprouting from the sides of the cliffs, but when it's raining, apparently dozens or even hundreds of tiny waterfalls appear across the area.

 

Personally though, I think the clear skies were worth a few less waterfalls. :)

For one thing, without any sun -- we'd never have gotten to see the rainbow waterfall!

Plus, I'm not sure our cameras could have taken waterfalls that were more intense...

Milford, for all its tourism popularity now, was actually overlooked by most early explorers.  When seen from the Tasman Sea, it's not much and doesn't suggest that there's enough room for ships to really pass through. 

It wasn't until the sealers came along that Milford finally made it onto the map. As our ship captain mused, the sealers really are the least appreciated explorers of the world's many coastlines.  We happened to spot a group of seals sunning themselves on an outcrop of rocks.

It's amazing how well they camouflage!

Though some can't help but strike a pose for the cameras.

 

We also tried to catch a glimpse of the Fiordland crested penguins -- they're really small, but very distinctive bright yellow crowns.  They're also one of the rarest penguins around, numbering only a couple thousand worldwide.  We slowly went past some of their favorite nesting grounds, but we only caught a glimpse of one guy as he was diving around in the water. Just take our word that this was a penguin!

 

Eventually though, it was time to head back to shore. 

We both tried to catch a nap on the bus ride back -- we had a two hour drive ahead of us on twisty roads. Ian was a trooper though and handled the roads as if he'd been driving on the left side for much longer than 1 week. He even passed our tour bus on the highway back to Queenstown. Twice. No, he didn't lap it, we stopped halfway to take pictures.  We got to our hotel before reception closed for the night, dropped off our bags, and treated ourselves to some massive ribs and steaks at Flame -- the best steakhouse in town. Ian got his filet blue (ewww!) while I over-ordered, to put it mildly.

Oh well, leftover ribs are great for breakfast! :)

The Trek to the Glow Worms

A morning flight to Queenstown, and we were off to the car rental place.



A few hours of driving through sheep...




...and we'd arrived in Te Anau.



We dropped off our bags at the hotel, and went straight to the ferry for the Glow Worm tour.



It was a bit if a wait at the ferry terminal, but fortunately there was some quality reading material:



As the ferry left, it began to get dark. Not dark enough to hide the fact that I still need a haircut.



Since the glow worms are in a cave, the dark didn't matter much.



These inch-long worms are interesting creatures. They are spider-like in that their primary food source is insects which they ensnare, not in a web, but in droplets of mucus hanging from the ceiling.



No photos were allowed inside the cave, so I was carrying the camera for nothing.




Luckily Ming didn't realize that applied to the entrance as well, where the rule is enforced not to protect the worms, but the $40 photo scam the guides have going there. These photo tourist traps are everywhere, but this one was particularly egregious.



We shuffled along planks for fifteen minutes. When done in a cave, I'm told it's called "shufplanking". Then we got in a boat on the underground river in the pitch black. The guide pulled us along a chain attached to the wall and pretty soon constellations came into view. These constellations weren't stars, though; they were worms.

Actually, we could really only see the rear-end of each worm, which was glowing to attract insects towards their demise. There were probably a couple thousand in total. Many were actually within reach, but I can't imagine what would compel anyone to reach into a glowing mass of worms and mucus. Still we were warned against it.

We spent twenty minutes in the boat under the worm-stars. Every once in a while a drop of liquid would splash my face as I stared into the black, leaving me wondering whether the source was condensation or if one of the glowing blue spots overhead got a little careless with it's mucus.

There wasn't much more to the tour since we weren't lucky enough to see one of the eels that makes its way into the underground river. Since we also didn't see any of the huge daddy-long-legs-esque spiders, I'm calling this a draw. We rode the ferry back and after some blogging, it was time for bed.

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Location:Te Anau, New Zealand