A Saturday Morning Scenic Flight

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Thursday was a beautiful sunny day here in Lake Tekapo. Sofia, Melisa and I had decided to have a little picnic out at Lake Alexadrina. We spent the day just laughing, joking and making plans. Somewhere in one of these conversations the topic of taking the Mt Cook scenic flight popped up. We knew we got a locals discount so why not. Upon returning into town we found ourselves in the Air Safari office getting prices and flight times. The 50% off discount helped encourage our decision and we decided Saturday morning was a good day (depending on weather and flight availability).

After a quick phone call on saturday morning, we were on our way into the Tekapo office then put into the van and driven out to the airport. The weather was beautiful, with no clouds in the sky. The three of us were all excited and giddy making jokes and getting funny looks from the other customers. We boarded the the 15 passenger Cessna Caravan and were seated in the back. I took the seat behind the girls. Over the engine noise I heard somebody say "Hey, you with the hat! You wanna sit up here". I looked up to see the pilot motioning me to take the co-pilot's seat. "Sure" was the only response I could say as I jumped to my feet and scurried to the front of the plane. I used to dislike planes and now I have a bit of a love affair with them. I was as excited as a child as I rocked in my seat, my feet tapping the floor as I looked out the windscreen watching the propellor turn. This is my second time to sit in a copilot seat and I love the views from the cockpit and looking at the gauges and watching the pilot.

So with my headset and my aviator sunglasses on we were motoring down the runway and into the clear south island sky. We passed over Lake Tekapo and into Mt Cook National Park varying from 5000 to 10,000 feet in altitude (the gauges were in front of me). We passed over Franz Josef and Fox glaciers. Flown beside the snow covered peaks of Mt Cook and its surrounding mountains, most of which reach over 10,000 feet (Mt Cook is over 12,000 feet). We flew over glacier fed lakes that are turquoise in color and even some spring fed lakes that added a nice contrast of scenery with their shades of blue. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking but the most impressive is the feeling of realizing how small you are beside these mountains in a small plane. The shadow of the plane just a speck on the mountains or the valleys below. We crossed back over the turquoise waters of Lake Tekapo and landed.

The flight took 50 minutes and upon arrival we were given certificates (I don't know why). We posed with the plane with our certificates for our photo then jumped into the van to be taken back into the Tekapo village. It was 11:30 am on a beautiful day. Now what do we do?

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