On our return to Queenstown, we visit the craft market before driving back to the condominium. At 2:30pm, a car collects us to take us to Queenstown's Airport where the helicopter company, Over the Top, is located. At last, after aborted efforts to get airborne at Kaikoura and Franz Josef, the weather conditions are suitable for flying. In fact, the poor weather we experienced at Franz Josef has resulted in lots of snow on the mountains, including areas that do not normally have snow at this time of the year

After the usual formalities, we take-off for a one-hour flight that includes landing on Park Pass Glacier in Mount Aspiring National Park. The helicopter is landed on soft fresh snow near a rock outcrop on the glacier, extra care being taken to ensure that the new snow does not hide a crevasse! Because of this danger, we stay close to the helicopter when we get out to take photos and experience the amazing quietness of this remote wilderness of ice and mountains

Our return journey is by a more roundabout route as the pilot looks for wildlife (we see deer and mountain goats) and hikers - a group making its way along a ridge wave as we pass over them. But the most amazing sight is a superbly-shaped, small, deep-blue-coloured lake whose perfectly calm surface creates excellent reflections. Its most amazing feature, however, is where the water exits the lake. The water narrows between the surrounding rocks to a very small point - here there is a sheer drop with a waterfall, over which the pilot drops the helicopter in dramatic fashion. This is such an amazing sight and experience that we request to go over the lake again

After these two memorable experiences of travelling by historic steamship and thrilling helicopter, we return to the more mundane Mondeo.

 

After a brief visit to the condominium to eat some fruit as from the balcony we admire the view across Lake Wakatipu to the peaks of The Remarkables (the mountain range on the opposite side of the lake) that are topped by a line of white clouds. These mountains are said to have got their name from the fact that the ridge is one of only two in the world that lies directly north to south - or, because the view of them is remarkable.

 

We then drive to the outskirts of Queensland in order to ride the Skyline Gondola