Sky High Aspirations

‘When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.’ – Leonardo da Vinci.

I have had it in the back of my mind for a while that I would like to do a scenic flight when I was in Wanaka. Wanaka is right on the border of Mt Aspiring National Park and at this time of year, all the mountains are capped with snow and look absolutely stunning. However, when I was in Queenstown, I decided that I would prefer some peace and quiet over a scenic flight and indulged myself by booking a three-night stay in a luxury one-bedroom chalet instead. It cost the same as the scenic flight and the solitude and time alone was (is) exactly what I needed.

Let’s just say, I’ve been living the Life of Riley (as some of my friends from home would say) these past few days. The chalet is in a quiet, residential part of town. Before I arrived, I went food shopping and bought myself some treats – nice cheese, posh crisps, a bottle of wine, some chocolate – you know, the essentials. After Alex, one of the owner’s, had shown me around my new home for the next three nights and left me alone, I immediately went round the entire place, looking in all the drawers, jumping on the bed and checking out the small kitchen – entirely MINE for three nights! No one else around to get in my way when I’m cooking, no one else in my bedroom with the massive double bed, a whole bathroom to myself, a log fire too… After so long living in hostels and sharing dormitories, I knew I’d made the right decision to book the chalet and chill out alone for a few days. It would be just what I needed.

I have spent the past couple of days enjoying my luxury peace and quiet, with my tasty food and the log fire to keep me warm in the evenings and a few glasses of wine too. I’ve finished Season Two of Orange is the New Black and caught up with Game of Thrones Season Five. It’s been great. But, at the back of my mind, still, niggling away, was that little voice still telling me I wanted to see the mountains from the air.

I reasoned with myself for a while. I can and probably will come back to Wanaka in the future. I could do a scenic flight then. But what if the weather was bad when I came back? Or what if there was no snow on the mountains? I wanted to see snow!! I told myself I’d chosen some solitude and time alone in luxury over a flight. I couldn’t afford a scenic flight anyway – could I?

Driving home from a walk yesterday, I figured I hadn’t checked my bank balance for a while. Not since the weekend anyway, when it had been pretty healthy. I worked out I hadn’t spent much since then – a couple of nights accommodation in a hostel, some takeaways, a food shop, some fuel for the car… What did that amount to? Like, a couple of hundred dollars? Maybe I could afford a scenic flight…

I was definitely doing a good job of talking myself into the flight, rather than out, anyway. Back at the chalet, I checked my bank balance. It was still reasonably healthy, as I’d thought. I checked the time. It was four pm. I had time to ring the helicopter company and see if they had any flights going the next day… They did, but they could only do flights for a minimum of two people (sometimes travelling alone sucks!). They might get some more people book but there was no guarantee and besides, those people might not want to do the flight I wanted to do.

I rang off, disappointed. I’d really wanted to do a helicopter flight – the one I’d looked at did two alpine landings on snow and ice, and was an hour long trip. It would’ve been amazing. I was just deciding that it was fate and that a flight wasn’t meant to be for me this time, when I remembered that last time I was in Wanaka, with Stray, one of the guys on the bus had done a flight where he’d flown the plane himself! How awesome would that be?

And that is how I came to drive to U-Fly Wanaka (www.u-flywanaka.co.nz) this morning, bright and early, to take my very first flying lesson!! What an amazing location for my first lesson too.

The owner, Kylie, met me in the office and ran through the safety guidelines, before taking me out to meet the plane I would be flying that day – a colourful VA2. I was a bit nervous – flying a plane for the first time will do that to you, and as well as this, there was the taking off and landing to contend with (those that know me will know that this freaks me out). Kylie was great, explaining everything to me in great depth and detail and it was obvious she loves her job and everything about flying. She was very knowledgeable about the area too, pointing out local landmarks as we flew over them and explaining things about wind and weather patterns that you need to look out for as a pilot.

We were in the air in no time and cruising across Lake Wanaka towards the mountains. The view was wonderful and the flying nowhere near as hard as I had thought it would be, although admittedly, I was only steering and making sure the nose stayed level. I’m sure there’s a lot more to it than that! Some wind buffeted us and made the little aircraft rock from side to side – a touch on the stick and it righted itself, but it made me jump!

As we flew up the Matukituki River valley, Kylie took the controls and I marvelled at the scenery and took photos. We were into the national park proper – unfortunately low cloud obscured our view of Mt Aspiring itself, but I got to see the Rob Roy Glacier from the air, where I’d hiked to only two days previously, as well as the Rob Roy Peak itself, and Avalanche Glacier just on the other side of the mountain. It truly was beautiful – the ice blue and pristine, the snow white and untouched by humans. Kylie explained that in the winter, heli-skiing was popular in the area and she pointed out several locations which would be good for the helicopters to land to drop off the skiers.

With the weather closing in, we turned back in the direction of home. I was back in charge – steering the plane and ensuring we didn’t stray too close to any mountains… I felt more relaxed now and we chatted away whilst I admired the scenery some more and kept an eye on the nose to ensure we weren’t going up or down too much, as instructed by Kylie. Back over Lake Wanaka, we had stunning views across the Southern Alps, up to 200km away, where we could see Mt Cook in the very distance. I took some more photos and Kylie took charge for the landing.

Back on the ground, Kylie took my photo with the plane and wrote me out a certificate for successfully piloting the aircraft. Now, if I ever decide to take up flying properly (it’s a possibility… never say never!) I only have 49 hours of flight time left to get until I can qualify and fly planes by myself.

U-Fly Wanaka was not, admittedly, my first choice for my scenic flight. However, I was completely won over by Kylie and the wonderful trip I took, and I’m so glad I did it. Kylie was a great teacher and the route (I did the Gold Tour) was fantastic, with amazing views over the national park and I’m sure, on a clear day, fantastic views of Mt Aspiring. As well as all this, you come away with an hour of flight time under your belt and I’m definitely thirsty for more flying time now I’ve tried it!! It’s an expensive hobby though – I might have to get saving! Don’t just be the passenger, be the pilot and check out what U-Fly Wanaka have to offer if you’re ever in the area. If you’re anything like me, you won’t be disappointed.