Depart from Wānaka Airport and fly over the mighty Clutha River and Lake Wānaka. While en route to Mount Aspiring, fly over some of Lake Wānaka's little islands, including Mou Waho Island, a unique glacial remnant of the last ice age and now a nature reserve in the middle of the lake.
Make a 6,000-foot alpine landing, providing you with spectacular photo opportunities with exceptional views of the surrounding Alps and Mount Aspiring itself. Following your landing, fly further into the Southern Alps and around the back of Mount Aspiring to see extravagant glaciers, crevasses, sheer ice faces, bright blue compacted ice, and frozen waterfalls with views as far as the Tasman Sea on the West Coast.
Fly over the Red Hills, popular Lord of the Rings filming locations, and alpine lakes before your next landing on the wild West Coast, in complete contrast to your first landing. Continue to spectacular Milford Sound, flying up the sound from the beach. Land for a short bush walk and coffee.
On departing Milford Sound, fly to the Sutherland Falls, the 5th highest waterfall in the world, which tumbles 1,904 feet from Lake Quill into Milford Sound. After many photo opportunities from above, carry on to Glenorchy, over the Shotover River, Lake Wakatipu, and the Queenstown Lakes area. Head over Cardrona ski field, past the Pisa Range, before returning to Wānaka Airport.
