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March Is The Best Time To See Nz's Mountains And Glaciers With Heli Tours

Thursday 24 March 2016, 3:10PM

By Beckie Wright

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Specialising in helicopter flights around Queenstown, Milford Sound, Fiordland and Canterbury Heli Tours provide visitors with fresh new experiences with a personal touch, showcasing the High Country environment of the South Island- alpine lakes, glaciers, untouched beaches and magnificent waterfalls. Heli Tours have extensive combo package options or can tailor-make a unique tour. Combining scenic helicopter flights with iconic local activities such as heli–wine tours, Heli Tours provide a unique New Zealand experience and some of the most unique are their flights over New Zealand’s famed mountainous regions with their world renowned glaciers.

Over the years the Heli Tours team have deducted that February and March are the best months for seeing these spectacular glaciers and also our highest mountain, Mt Cook, as the weather is generally very settled allowing for unsurpassed views, as most of the time the mountains are in cloud and prevent the Heli Tours pilots from accessing them.

By visiting the website at http://www.helitours.co.nz and clicking on ‘Flight Experiences’ we can see they have several glacier and mountain related flights, including their ‘Glacier, Rivers of Ice’ flight, the ‘Glacier Direct’ flight, their Mt Cook Explorer,  Fox and Franz Glacier Discovery and their Milford Sound Heli Express.

The Glacier, Rivers of Ice’ one hour flight will take in spectacular views of the braided Rees and Dart Rivers, Mt Earnslaw and many magnificent glaciers. These deep blue ‘rivers of ice’ create an amazing photo opportunity. Passengers can experience a glacier landing before returning to Queenstown.

Passengers on the ‘Glacier Direct’ will experience a stunning flight from Queenstown, west through the Richardson Mountains towards the head of Lake Wakatipu and Glenorchy. They will then enjoy a glacier landing offering spectacular views of Lake Wakatipu, Glenorchy, Mt Aspiring National Park and the braided Rees and Dart River valleys.

The Mt Cook Explorer flies North East over the historic Cardrona valley, view Lakes Wanaka and Hawea, the beautiful and photogenic Lindis Pass, the mighty Ahuriri River and Lake Ohau before reaching Mt Cook New Zealand’s highest mountain. Flying in the Mt Cook region passengers can view glaciers galore with the Hooker, Tasman, Mueller and the Murchison all on show and will experience an alpine landing before returning to Queenstown.

The Fox and Franz Glacier Discovery tour ascends over the magnificent Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, across the main divide of the Southern Alps, past Aoraki Mt Cook – New Zealand’s highest mountain, enjoying a snow landing on the edge of the Aoraki Mt Cook National Park. 

Finally, the Milford Sound Heli Express takes visitors to magnificent Fiordland National Park where their flying adventure will be concluded with a scenic alpine landing with mesmerizing views over Lake Wakatipu in an experience that will leave them feeling on top of the world.