Flying over the Southern Alps

We have developed a potentially unhealthy predilection for very large mountains, very close up, in very small planes.

New Zealand's Southern Alps have a plethora of plane and helicopter tours to choose from; some even land on the glacier.  We chose Murray and his Cessna 185.  As always we arranged to tour without other bodies.  We really are becoming misanthropic

The day was bright and sunny, but a cloak of clouds clung to the lower icefalls and termini of the Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers.  The Tasman Glacier was cloud free.

We were both taking pictures from both sides of the plane with both cameras (lots of "both" going on).....here's the visual experience, condensed into 3 categories

1) General mountain/cloud shots, notably the peak of Mount Cook (New Zealand's highest peak  - 12,000 feet)
2) Glacial ice fields; cirques, icefalls, snow packs, etc
3) the Tasman Glacier with its lateral and medial moraines

MOUNTAIN SHOTS

ICEFIELDS

TASMAN GLACIER

On the flight to and from the alpine peaks we passed over the bucolic New Zealand countryside - a series of river valleys bounded by the sea at one end and the mountain ridges on either side.  The valleys are visually stunning and Edenlike  -- both from the air and on the ground as we would learn on our drive the following day.  The vegetation is lush, punctuated with highly variable rivers - docile and meandering now....but subject to torrential flash floods, all terminated by the pounding sea.

As we flew over the coast we saw dolphins leaping in the sea.  Murray our pilot said he never swims off the beach because of the number of large sharks he sees cruising the shore.  We saw none; perhaps Murray was teasing the tourists.  We'll find out later this month when we dive on the Great Barrier Reef!

The above is a shot of where we stayed.

It was a delicious morning.  We then drove for 5 hours through fascinating country (and very winding roads) deeper into the south island on our quest to Milford Sound.

Comments

[Bill Curley]

You really should not let anyone know about this blog. Seeing your adventures makes us average humans feel like totally unexciting couch potatoes. Clearly, neither of you has lost your sense of childhood wonder and curiosity.

Keep it up!

Bill

[Thora]

You guys should publish this blog as your Life Adventures in book form. It's captivating and would be enjoyed by many travellers and even non travellers.