I met Bill before sunrise at work and we headed out to the Queenstown airport. 6 of us squeezed into the 7 seater chopper and started up towards the Routeburn track, another track that we offer as a guided walk. Along the way we saw the sun rise hit the mountain tops and glaciers while zooming over mountains and valleys. Incredible is the only word I can think of. We dropped off 3 guys and then headed out to the Milford track to Glade house, the overnight stop along the track. Here we got a nice cooked breakfast with the guests and then Bill started his thing and I started out with the group and walked with them for a couple hours.
My ride sitting at Glade House.
A detour off the track to check out a bog.
An eel. This thing was at least 3 ft long and it was a "small" one. I'm skeptical.
Crossing the Clinton River.
Glade House looking back from the cable bridge.
When I came back Bill was still working so I went with Rico (the pilot) to deliver some stuff to other lodges from Milford Sound. Flying around was amazing. The pictures I took suck in comparison to what it really looked like.
We hooked this up to the chopper with the rope and flew it down the valley. It had oranges and stuff in it. Some fell out along the way b/c it started spinning alot. Bombs away.
Apparently this is the technique when lifting a "cage" of stuff, stick your head out the door.
The valley.
Sutherland Falls, 1904ft. Wow.
Nice valley.This is coming up to Iceberg Lake, no icebergs though.
After we had delivered stuff we picked up some of our walkers and flew then to pick up Bill back at Glade House. The walkers pay 450 bones to fly back to Queenstown by chopper. Total cost to me for the day: $0. oh ya.
6 comments:
I'd say that day pretty much makes this job worth every hour you work.
WiCKED.
WH
that sounds amazing!!
ans ps - those couple pics you posted do not suck! i absolutely LOVE the one at the top of the blog too... man you're good!!
i'm totally jealous of the bungee jumping too! i dunno if i could actually do it... i like to think i could, but i'd probably pee my pants when the time actually came!
what's the strangest/funniest/most bizarre thing one of the hikers have asked you/told you?!
one of the dumbest things is after discussing with a lady that we can lend her a raincoat I handed her one to look at and she asked "is it waterproof?"
i think it's "the last LAG", not "leg".
Dear Anonymous,
Your attempt at correcting a perceived grammatical error has failed. I refer you to the definition of "leg" as defined by dictionary.com
A stage of a journey or course, especially:
1. Nautical The distance traveled by a sailing vessel on a single tack.
2. The part of an air route or a flight pattern that is between two successive stops, positions, or changes in direction.
3. One of several contests that must be successfully completed in order to determine the winner of a competition.
Better luck next time.
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