Fliegen ist schön...

Neuseeland ist ein schönes Land, das wissen wir ja inzwischen. Leider gibt es jedoch Orte, die nicht für normalsterbliche mit Auto oder Wandern erreichbar sind.
Die Alpen, die Gletscher und der Mount Cook gehören dazu. Und somit entschlossen wir uns, dass uns dies einen Flug wert ist, um mal alles aus einer anderen Perspektive sehen zu können.
Unser Flug startete am Lake Tekapo und wir bekamen u.a. den Mt. Tasman und Tasman Gletscher, den Mt. Cook, den Fox Gletscher und den Franz Josef Gletscher zu Gesicht. Nach unserem langen Regentief hatten wir Glück- es gab zwar ein paar Wolken, aber die Bedingungen waren fast ideal und wir hatten tolle Blicke aus dem Fenster.
Wir waren in einer kleine Maschine unterwegs mit nur 6 Sitzplätzen und da auch kein anderer Fluggast mehr kam, hatten wir quasi einen Privatflug und konnten an beiden Seiten zu den Fenstern herausschauen! SUUUUUPER! Lehnt euch also in eurem Sessel zurück, stellt euch ein paar Fluggeräusche vor und fliegt durch die BIlder! ;o)

New Zealand is country full of beautiful walks, climbs, boat tours and also flight tours. We decided to take a flight across the most impressive glaciers New Zealand has to offer. We could have climbed them and even taken a boat across the glacier lakes, but we never could have seen so much and shared it with you. Our flight started close to Lake Tekapo and went along the red line on the picture below. Please have a quick look at airsafaris for specific details. We seemed to be lucky that day as we had good weather and were the only passengers on board. That ment plenty of space in the plane as it was just a six seater. Enjoy what we have seen from the plane on both window sides:

Unsere Flugroute, für Interessierte nachzulesen unter (our flight route actually slightly differed, we did not go along Lake Tekapo on the right and did not reach #8 and #7. We took the shortcut to lake pukaki and spent more time in the glacier region): http://www.airsafaris.co.nz/
Unser Flugzeug und Pilot (our ride, the copilot was taking the picture):
kurz nach dem Start: Das Land der Kanäle... (The Mackenzie country is famous for its hydropower stations and canals)man konnte dem Piloten direkt über die Schulter schauen (I just wanted to check whether the pilot was doing everything right and quickly glanced at the instruments ;-):
*begeisterung* na, an welcher Seite ist der Blick grade schöner??? (carina jumped from one side to the other, it was hard to decide which offered the better view)
Der Lake Tekapo mit dem Dörfchen Tekapo. (This is Tekapo with its 300 people. But they do have a 7 mil $ telescope because of its fabulous location)
Das Observatorium auf dem Mt John, wo wir am Abend noch Sterne schauen wollen. Drumherum ist nichts, so dass hier keine Lichter von Städten stören könnten. (The Mt. John observatory is just around the corner and one of the best places to be at a star lit night. You can guess what our planes were for the night)
Der Lake Pukaki (Lake Pukaki, our altitude was roughly 1500m over ground and I hardly managed to the lake onto one picture. This glacier lake is really big!)
Am Anfang der Berge. Unten sieht man das Dörfchen Mt Cook Village (as we come closer to the glaciers, you can see Mt. Cook Village, which is a good starting point for most walks, climbs and boat tours.)
Beeindruckende Berge, bitte einfach genießen... (we peeked deep into hidden valleys and over high mountains)
Der Gletschersee des Tasman Gletschers (Größenvergleich: man sieht auch ein Häuschen am Ende des Wanderweges) (we even did a walk from the crossing, which consists of a parking lot and a shelter to the rim of the green parts - top left way - it was hard to image how large the icebergs are)
The tip of Mount Cook in all its glory and danger. Many people died trying to climb all the way to the top
glaciers coming down from the mountains
Direkter Flug auf den Mt Cook (the pilot was showing us where we will pass Mt. Cook 3700m, we were going around and did not fly over it)
... da ist er... (side view of Mt. Cook)

Fox Gletscher (as we passed Mt. Cook we got to see the other glaciers like Fox Glacier...):

Franz Josef Gletscher (Franz Josef glacier...):

im Hintergrund: Gletschersee Tasman Gletscher (and the Tasman glacier with its lake in the background. If you wanted to see all this on foot, you would be walking for weeks :-) )
Ein Haus mitten auf dem Berg (this little retreat is not a private one but the Hooker Hut. Some people do actually climb up here and have a shelter, which can prove live saving in bad weather.):
Na, wer findet das Haus auf diesem Photo wieder??? (Can you spot the Hooker Hut?)
rivers from other glaciers run through valleys and combine to even bigger rivers...
Eisschollen im See (... until they come together at glacier lakes. No its not an animal just two icebergs and one has a hole in it)
the above icebergs are on the right side. you can compare them to the barely visible crossing on the left side
Noch schnell ein Bild, bevor der Flug schon wieder vorbei ist... Die Stunde ging rum wie im Fluge *haha* (our flight is almost over and you might remember this valley from another picture before)
Danach ging es erst mal wieder zum Lake Tekapo, um auf die Sterntour am Abend zu warten. (we were lucky this night and all the clouds disappeared, we enjoyed the sunset and particularly I couldn't wait for the stargazer tour to begin ... )
Lake Tekapo is certainly one of the most beautiful places in New Zealand
So langsam wurde es dunkel und man konnte einen schönen Mond sehen... (the night was coming and we began to see the universe around us. O.k. it is just the moon but more is coming :-) )