Day 12 – Wanaka and Mt Cook

Today was the day we had rescheduled our flight over the glaciers and Mt Cook, my birthday present from the extended Wiggan clan. We had to reorganise with Southern Alps Air, a company that operate out of Wanaka. I rang them at 7:30 to check on the weather and confirmed that we could fly in the afternoon. This was good because we didn’t have to rush up to Wanaka (about an hour’s drive). I was glad we decided to revisit Wanaka as my experience there in the rain last week had left me feeling disappointed. A fne day is far more scenic.

We had another wander through the shops that sell mainly ski gear and some funky socks and had an early lunch before heading off to take our flight. The Wanaka Airport, is not a big concern and is about 10 kilometres out of town. The aircraft was a small Cessna 6 seater and I got to sit up next to the pilot, which was pretty cool.

 The trip was about 90 minutes. We flew a pretty direct route from Wanaka up to Mt Cook (New Zealand’s highest mountain at around 11,500 ft). It was a great experience as we flew over the lakes an valleys that typify the South Island landscape.

Closer to Mt Cook we flew over the Tasman Glacier, which is some 23 kilometres long (the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.

We then did a turn in front of Mt Cook and could see down to the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers, but due to the conditions couldn’t fly directly over them. Then we made our way back flying close to the mountain peaks – as close as I will ever get to mountains like this (I’m no Edmund Hilliary).

Then it was back to fly over Lake Hawea and then back into Wanaka.

So all in all … a magnificent experience, so major thanks to everyone that contributed. 

Back in Alexandra tonight, we entertained Deb’s Uncle Ross, partly to assist in the endeavour of getting through a large quantity of bolognaise. He brought around one of the electric cars he sells which was quite impressive. Not quite a flash as a Tesla, but pretty good all the same.

We are off to Gore tomorrow for to catch up with more of Deb’s extended family.

Cheers … until tomorrow