The day dawned reasonably clearly, with the winds dropping to more of a frosty breeze. My part in packing consisted of carrying heavy things to the car (organisation is not my forte). In virtually no time we had reached the Helicopter Tour centre and spoke to the admissions lady. She gave us a pained expression and started shaking her head. My heart sank. After a few stressful moments, it dawned on us she was referring to a particular flight path in a particular helicopter within the next 10 minutes. We assured her we were happy to go to whatever mountain she chose on what ever aircraft she could rustle up. It was all gravy from there.
The kids got the window seats and we all got great views of Mt Cook itself, as well as the long yet disgustingly dirty glacier (Tasman Glacier I think it was) at the foot of it. The lake at the front of its 'terminal face' (glacier lingo you know) formed as the glacier has retreated over the last forty years. I'm a font of useful information.
The pilot spiralled down onto a patch of snow high up in the mountains with a great view of Mt Cook. This allowed us some snow time. The kids had a blast. While I was careful to grab powdery snow to use as snowballs, they were quite willing to prise up any chunk of ice they could lay their hands on. Guess who their target was. Lily decided to flop down onto a small patch of powder and try out a 'snow angel'. What a dag.
I was grinning like a madman, until the frigid air started making my teeth ache (I am glad there are no images of me pulling my lips down over my teeth). We eventually got back on board the helicopter and made our way back to base, with a touch of turbulence certainly grabbing my attention. To distract myself, I studied the landscape - there was more 'stone flour' in evidence in the blue lake near the Tour Centre.
On the way to Christchurch, we stopped by Lake Tekapo, where a small stone church is plagued by tourists on a daily basis. While there, we saw a busload of Chinese tourists disembark a bus, take a large number of photos, get back on board, only to be replaced by their British counterparts about 5 minutes later. Both busloads looked like seasoned professionals - seeking out the perfect picture within minutes.
The final stage of the journey to Christchurch was completed to the dulcet tones of Joshie screaming his lungs out (he felt we had done enough travel for the day). A little weary, and frazzled after the frequent stops, we were very pleased to have been upgraded to a top floor suite once again at the same apartments we visited previously. Spending the day here tomorrow, we look forward to not having to pack everything into the car in the morning.
