catching up on a badly overdue birthday present
my father had his 70th birthday 6 years ago
as a gift i took him up the hunter valley to do an early morning balloon flight
alas just as we were ready to depart at 5 am the weather turned against us
and so a promise was made to take the birthday boy on a scenic flight sometime
finally the opportunity presented itself on a day trip to lake tekapo
this was not part of the planned expedition but everything seemed in it's favour
especially the timing as on an impulse we made some enquiries at the airfield
to be told a flight would be leaving in 20 minutes - seats available, weather perfect
on our flight we were to board an older vintage plane called a nomad
this particularly pleased my aircraft-loving, ex-pilot father
and even more so pleased our travelling companion who prefers twin-engine aircraft
to which i agreed considering the territory we were about to enter
as an added bonus on this flight we were informed of a normally unscheduled stopover
adding extra journey time to the normal 40 or so minutes in the air
we were also told that lucky us had 2 pilots for the price of one
the plane itself had seating for about 16 passengers
we were about half full so a bit of latitude in the seating arrangement
the first part of the flight was over the beautiful lake tekapo
and then into serious mountain range territory
it really was quite overwhelming gazing out the windows
feeling quite intimidated at the size and grandeur of these giants
beholding the wonder and scale of the peaks in close proximity
mount cook in all it's glory from one side then another
and the spectacle of a full view of the tasman glacier
with the runoff of a milky glaciel river feeding into lake pukaki
touchdown and catching of breath at a small airfield servicing the mountain area
then the return flight across the lake and grassy plains to lake tekapo
after landing we had the pleasure of a chat with fellow passengers
and our pilots seemed as enthusiastic about the adventure as us
turns out the main pilot for the day was learning the ropes
oddly enough this information had not been passed on pre-flight
but it was obvious we were in the best hands
an amazing experience
happy birthday dad
