Unavoidably, a helicopter “joyride” is noisy, expensive, brief.
However, over several decades, every one I have undertaken has been a wonderful experience.
On the afternoon of 14 July 2010 our luck was “bad” – too-strong winds arrived ahead of “schedule”, so our eagerly-anticipated “landing in the snow” was ruled out.
It was, nonetheless, a glorious flight…all less-than-thirty minutes of it.
A helicopter affords non-agile humans the ability to soar, dip, glide, pause and weave through mountains and valleys in ways otherwise available only to certain raptors and alpine choughs.
Any good helicopter flight offers a host of rapidly-shifting vantage points; many provide a number of unforgettable “views” that one could never experience, otherwise.
The Seaward Kaikoura Range’s highest peak rises 2,608 metres above sea level… and it is just 12 kilometres from the sea.
The almost-parallel, Inland Kaikoura Range reaches higher, to 2,885 metres ASL.
Discover a little more, here.
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Helicopter footnote
Photographic tip “1”: in a helicopter, a telephoto lens will likely prove both useless & cumbersome.
Tip “2”: when in a “chopper”, always deploy a fast shutter speed.
Tip “3”: a filthy/fingerprint-greased window needs cleaning; always carry some lens cleaning tissues.
Tip “4”: always try to avoid reflections or glare on a window’s surface. Pay attention to where the sun is, & how the light is falling, on both sides of the window. An opened window or door – with no glass or perspex between the end of your lens and the world outside – is best. This happy circumstance is highly unlikely to be available!
(although we hugely enjoyed our doubtless-illegal, “doors off” helicopter flights over volcanoes et al in Kamchatka, many years ago. Russia’s “far east” was then a very wild place!)
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