Posted: 4/5/18 | April 5th, 2018
“How do you do on boats?”
“I like ’em,” I stated gripping the seat of the airplane tightly.
“Well, just photo turbulence as waves you can’t see,” the pilot stated with a laugh.
“I understand turbulence can’t take down a plane, however that doesn’t make this any type of much more comfortable,” I retorted with a glare.
The airplane jolted as we passed some high mountains. None of the other passengers seemed to notice, however I cringed with the look of somebody who just got a thousand needles stuck in his arm.
“If something goes wrong here, we just autumn as well as die! That’s just where my mind goes!”
The pilot looked at me, laughed again, as well as went back to speaking to the other passengers.
I was in a tiny, six-seater seaplane three thousand feet above skeptical Sound. Fiordland is found in the southwesternmost part of new Zealand as well as house to various Lord of the Rings film locations, the region is thought about one of the country’s many beautiful as well as remote areas.
Filled with enormous mountains, deep lakes, swelling rivers, untamed forests, as well as resplendent fjords, many of it has never been set upon by man. save a few locations where boats as well as planes can go, the government has made the land off-limits, ensuring that that will be the situation for a long time to come.
The day before, I had had the bright concept of seeing skeptical noise on a quick one-hour flight instead of a full-day bus/boat ride. I was running low on schedule and, in spite of my worry of heights as well as flying, I might only believe of saving time as well as the views that I’d see.
Yet, as the teeny airplane bounced around, the concept no longer seemed so bright.
Days earlier, I had hitched a trip to the area with Karin, a Swedish woman I’d satisfied in Wanaka. After a few days partying in Queenstown, we had driven down to the region’s introducing pad, Te Anau, a little town of barely a few hundred people on a lake. It’s the gateway for tourists who concerned camp, hike the Kepler Track as well as Milford noise trail, as well as see the area’s two most significant attractions: Milford noise as well as skeptical Sound.
Karin as well as I drove as much as Milford noise for the day. On the way, we passed huge granite mountains, crystal-clear blue rivers, as well as roaring waterfalls. sheer cliffs increased above us as we complied with the road to the sound. small lakes dotted the way, as well as hiking tracks — a few of the country’s “Great Walks” — crisscrossed the area.
This was wild new Zealand, where cellphone service didn’t exist, you had to camp, and, to quote Doc Brown, “you don’t requirement roads.” You came right here for one reason: to getaway city life.
On our two-hour cruise on Milford noise to the edge of the Tasman Sea as well as back again, water from the recent rains rushed in a torrent off the sides of the fjord, ice-covered the tops of the mountains, as well as seals frolicked nearby. It was a clear, bright, sunny day, the kind that makes you feel like you got the luckiest card in the traveler’s deck.
The next day, Karin left however I stayed on to keep exploring. I headed to Wings as well as Water, a little seaplane business run by Jim, a hard-nosed pilot who had a great deal to state about the specify of contemporary pilot training as well as airplane safety. He spouted off about the nanny specify as well as government policy not letting pilots be pilots, business outsourcing maintenance, the overreliance on computers as well as technology, as well as pilots not choosing their digestive tracts enough.
“There’s not sufficient experience out there. A computer isn’t going to save you.”
He had strong opinions on every subject.
We headed to the airplane to greet the other passengers.
“Matt is scared of flying, however we’ll make him a man,” he stated to the two other couples waiting to board our flight, slapping my back as he went to do one more security inspect on the plane.
I already regretted discussing my worry of flying.
With a sputter of the engine, we coasted on the water as well as ascended smoothly into the air. Now, below us, the huge Lake Te Anau as well as mountains were splayed out over the landscape. There were lakes leaking down the sides of mountains, patches of ice dotting inaccessible mountaintops, as well as sheer, gray cliffs with trees seemingly hanging on by a root, prepared to slide off at a moment’s notice. We weaved so carefully around the mountains I felt I might touch them.
As the clouds rolled in, I ended up being nervous. With clouds came wind as well as choppier air.
“How do you understand when to turn back? like is there a point when you go, ‘OK, time to go!’?”
“You just understand from experience,” Jim replied.
“What occurs if the weather condition worsens?”
“Well, you see those huge bodies of water down there?”
“To jo…”
“Well, we’re inhydroplán. Jen jsem přistál do letadla na vodě a také jsem na něj čekal, “odpověděl věcně,„ ale nebojte se. To se nikdy nestalo. “
“Letadla,” pokračoval, “jsou silnější než lidé.” Rozbijete, než to uděláte. “
Řezali jsme se mraky i smyčkou kolem pádu Browne Falls, nejvyššího vodního podvozku na světě (protože voda se technicky vždy dotýkala země, nebyl to vodopád), se kterým kaskáda neustále nalila z velké sady bazénu v úzkosti hory.
Když jsme přistáli zpět v Te Anau a také jsme vytáhli do Doku, Jim se na mě podíval. “Není to tak špatné, co?”
“Ne, ne tak špatné, ale to nezměnilo můj pohled na létání.”
Další den, když jsem chytil časný ráno, jsem viděl, jak se obloha zatočila růžovou, když slunce stoupalo. Byl jsem rád, že jsem se na rozdíl od mé poslední návštěvy nevyhnul této oblasti. Právě tady v tomto bitovém městě na okraji Nového Zélandu, kde turisté převyšovali místní obyvatele, bylo trochu jiného, co by se v přírodě potěšilo. Region zbavil rozptýlení tak typické v jiných částech země.
A také jsem opravdu doufal, že když se vrátím, ukážu Jimovi, že jsem dobyl své starosti s výškami.
Zarezervujte si cestu na Nový Zéland: Logistické návrhy a triky
Zarezervujte si let
Pomocí Skyscannera nebo Momondo objevte cenově dostupný let. Jsou to moje dva preferované procházení motorů, protože procházejí místa a letecké společnosti po celém světě, takže vždy chápete, že žádný kámen nezůstane bez vložení. Začněte s Skyscannerem velmi první, protože mají nejvýznamnější dosah!
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Nomads (Queenstown)
Urbanz (Christchurch)
Rainbow Lodge (Taupo)
Pokud hledáte mnohem více míst, abyste zůstali, právě zde je celkový seznam mých preferovaných ubytoven na Novém Zélandu.
Nezapamatujte si cestovní pojištění
Pokrytí cestovního pojištění vás chrání před nemocí, zraněním, krádeží a zrušením. Je to rozsáhlá bezpečnost v situaci, cokoli se pokazí. Nikdy jsem nejezdil na výlet bez toho, protože jsem ho v minulosti musel mnohokrát využívat. Moje preferované podnikání, které nabízejí nejlepší služby a hodnota, jsou:
Bezpečnostní křídlo (pro všechny do 70 let)
Pojistěte moji cestu (pro ty nad 70)
MedJet (pro další pokrytí repatriace)
Hledáte to nejlepší firmu, se kterými byste mohli ušetřit peníze?
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