Helicopter heaven over Queenstown

PICNIC spots don't come much higher than the one on New Zealand's Cecil Peak, Brian Crisp was on cloud nine 4000m above Lake Wakatipu.

Picture perfect ... the very photographic Lake Wakatipu near Queenstown, New Zealand.

I AM surrounded by ghosts. Though I'm standing on solid ground, everything around me is moving.

Shapes form, become recognisable and then disappear as the cool July wind changes direction.

I've stared at clouds before, but this is the first time I've stood above them. I know the clouds won't support me, but the urge to step out and explore is strong. They seem so real.

Cecil Peak ledge, 4000m above Lake Wakatipu, is not an easy place to get to, but it is one of the most amazing picnic spots in the world.

The Over The Top helicopter company, based at Queenstown, New Zealand, flies people there for $580 a person.

On a clear day you look down over Queenstown. Today, however, the clouds have rolled in and the view is very different.

As we sip champagne the clouds fire our imaginations. We each pick out the shapes of animals. Perhaps they are there, or maybe it's just the combination of altitude and champagne.

Queenstown is the adventure capital of New Zealand and even without snow it's a fantastic place to explore by helicopter.

We are supposed to be skiing, but snow and bathroom scales are two things in life you just can't depend on.

The season had started well enough with big dumps. Heavy rains changed all that and resulted in this ski trip becoming a food, wine and helicopter expedition.

Five helicopter services operate from Queenstown airport. Our carrier of choice, Over The Top, specialises in personalised trips and boasts that the "itinerary is limited only by your imagination".

Helicopter travel not only changes your perspective, but the speed of it allows you to fit so much more into a day.

Take the third day of the trip as an example. We leave the Sofitel, in central Queenstown, at 8.30am in a Land Rover to explore Skippers Canyon. The canyon road was blasted from rock in 1862 to hasten the gold rush.

The road to Skippers is bumpy. We make several stops – at Hell's Gate and Lighthouse Rock – to take in the beauty of the Shotover River. Even today this is not an easy road to pass.

Helicopters can get you places that fixed wing aircraft – and even 4WDs – can't.

So instead of taking the same windy, bumpy road back from Skippers, looking at exactly the same countryside, we arrange for Over The Top to pick us up and show us the area from the sky.

From the ground the cliffs look imposing, but in the six-seater helicopter, they look awesome. Up close you get a completely different appreciation of their size, ruggedness and the remoteness of the area.

When we land at Cecil Peak ledge, it's as if we are standing on the edge of the world – and we are. No one can spoil that moment. That is a memory only the six of us will share.

After the champagne, we are whisked off to lunch at the Winehouse and Kitchen, a 100-year-old restored farmhouse in Gibbston, about a 20-minute drive from Queenstown.

It doesn't take all that long in a helicopter.

Bungy jump legend Henry van Asch saved the derelict Glenroy Homestead building and relocated it next to his Kawarau Bungy Bridge. The cellar door offers three wines – Freefall, Rockferry and Henry's own van Asch label.

The dining area is modelled on a 1950s kitchen and the service is as friendly as it was in the good old days. Though the entire menu looks good, I suggest you try the tasting platters.

They not only look good, but the food combinations taste great.

After a long lunch, it's back to the Sofitel to indulge in a little "bathology".

By the time I enter my room, the bath had been run (infused with essential oils), a pot of tea is brewed and fluffy robes are laid out on the bed.

All I have to do is sit back, relax, watch the TV above the bath and prepare for tomorrow's adventure.

Sunday Herald Sun