New Zealand, South Island flying

[SNJ-6]

Hello All,

Apologies in advance if this question has been asked a thousand times (I tried using the "search" facility without much luck).

I have an Australian PPL and I will be on holidays in New Zealand in April.

I would like to do some flying around:

a) Franz Josef/Fox Glaciers and Mount Cook and/or
b) Queenstown/Milford Sound

I would like to go up with a local - that way they can take over when I want to take photos.

From my limited research so far I get the impression that option a) would better be done through a normal charter company (with me just "sitting down the back") as opposed to hiring a plane/instructor myself.
Is that the case ? I get the feeling that being the sole hirer of the sort of aircraft that has a decent enough climb performance might be expensive - particularly for someone normally used to hiring "nothing more" costly than a Piper Arrow.

Any comments/recommendations as to who to fly with for both of the areas listed above would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers.

[flyby_kiwi]

You wont need to go Charter if you dont want to,
Go through the Wakatipu Aeroclub who fly out of Queenstown airport. They are forever taking out of towners into Milford Sound etc. and I have little doubt they could get you up around Mt Cook and the Glaciers.
They have a few a\c types but Id say you would be best using one of the C172's - I guess they would go for about $150-$170 per hobbs hour.
Im not sure how many hours you'd be looking at but I wouldnt have thought it would be more than about 5-6 or so - prehaps one of the locals can elaborate.
It may be worthwhile booking sometime in advance - say at least by a week or so.
Its great flying down that way so have fun!

[Woodend1]

have a look at www.flying.co.nz. It's a link to the wakatipu aeroclub and there's a page on overseas pilots wanting to get up into the hills.

And do you know of the warbirds airshow at wanaka on 10/11 April? Only an hour from queenstown by road and well worth the look.

The mountain scenery is awesome, and there's lots of it! You'll love it.

[scrambler]

Flew from Queenstown a number of years ago with Wakatipu Aeroclub, just your licence, log book and medical required. Flown as Dual with an Instructor.

Also Invercargil was a good place to have a fly from.

Have you considered doing your NZ PPL. I did mine a few years ago at Kapati (I think thats how its spelt) aero club in Paraparaumu Nth of Wellington. It took a brush up on the NZ regs and a 1 hour BFR.

Have found that the NZ schools are keen to get you in the air on your own and just want to see you can fly safely rather than the old "lets just do a few more circuits, and maybe a nav" attitude of some of the bigger Aussie schools I have flown with.

One of the NZ guys may be able to point you in the right direction for licences over there

[On Track]

Wakatipu Aero Club is definitely the way to go.

Go with an instructor and log it as a dual flight.

They'll let you fly the plane while they take care of the radio and all that other local area stuff that will be unfamiliar to you.

Whenever you want to take photos, they'll happily take over the controls while you snap away.

Great bunch of people there, and they've recently acquired a brand new 172.

[SNJ-6]

Thanks everyone for your advice - much appreciated.
Cheers ! :ok:

[AerocatS2A]

You don't need a really powerful aircraft as you fly between the mountains, not over them ! :).

C172 will be just fine.

You could even combine it with a mountain flying course, very valuable experience.