Queenstown New Zealand April 2017 (15 photos)
This is part 10 of my New Zealand series of posts.
The Remarkables are a mountain range towering over Queenstown in the South Island of New Zealand. Located on the southeastern shore of Lake Wakatipu, the range lives up to its name by rising sharply to create an impressive backdrop. The highest point in the range is Double Cone (2319 metres).
During my trip to Queenstown, I was not going to pass up the opportunity to fly to the top of the Remarkables in a shiny helicopter.
The photo above is looking to the west. Over in the distance is Skippers Canyon which I posted about previously.
The photo above is looking down on Queenstown. The hilltop in the middle of view is the private property of Deer Park Heights which I visited and posted about earlier.
The mountains were named The Remarkables by Alexander Garvie in 1857-58, allegedly because they are one of only two mountain ranges in the world which run directly north to south. An alternate explanation for the name given by locals is that early Queenstown settlers, upon seeing the mountain range during sunset one evening, named them The Remarkables to describe the sight.
One of the limitations of hiring a helicopter is that the cost is time based. Originally I was to have been at the top of The Remarkables for 10 minutes. However, whilst I was up there the pilot received a radio message saying that due to New Zealand’s infamous cloud cover, his other scheduled flight to Milford Sound that morning was cancelled. So with nothing else for my pilot to do, my 10 minutes at The Remarkables turned into about 40 minutes instead, without additional cost. No complaints from me. 🙂
The views over Queenstown on the flight back were just as impressive..
Etcetera Etcetera Etcetera 
You are remarkable. Thanks for sharing. Shiny helicopters rock! I guess your wings were at the shop being serviced.
Thank you very much. Yes, the wings were being, errr, serviced. 🙂 I love getting the aerial view. It makes you appreciate the grandeur of the scenery in a fuller way.
Wow! Such beautiful views and such rugged terrain. These are amazing captures. And the first thing that popped into my head when I saw your chopper was dragonfly! 😉
Fly! Yes, that is what dragons do. 🙂
Thank you very much. It was so refreshing to be up there away from it all, admiring the view.
What a gorgeous, gorgeous place and amazing photos. Thanks for sharing them – I can imagine being there myself now. 😊
Thank you very much. I hope you get to see it for yourself one day.
Me too!
🙂
What an experience; I just love the photos of the river and mountains -which ones you might ask – ALL.
Thanks so much. It was a wonderful experience up there, and not as cold as I anticipated. The views were incredible.
Reminds me of our Grand Canyon in the US. BEAUTIFUL!
Thanks. Every country seems to have their own version of certain landscape features. Each individual and beautiful.
Yes!🖖
🙂
All fantastic shots. New Zealand does not cease to amaze me, thanks to your photos.
Thank you very much. I hope to visit other parts of New Zealand one day. So much to see, as is often the case.
Wow, you lucked out with the timing. Good for you. 😀 Remarkable photos of the Remarkables.
Thanks. 🙂 Very lucky indeed. If the cloud cover had been dense over Queenstown, my flight would have been cancelled.
Breathtaking views 🙂
Absolutely beautiful views. Quite an experience.
hermoso
Gracias.
The grandeur of the scenery, Indeed! Thank you for the amazing virtual helicopter ride! Awesome shots, Dragon!!
It’s always good to get a different perspective, and aerial photography is something I would love to do more of. The landscape is so beautiful in NZ. Thanks very much, Amy.
👍👍
🙂
Great views, Draco. Excellent photography!
Thank you.
Mr Dragon your photographs is certainly anyting but dead wood. Looks like an amazing experience and wonderful photos. I think I am starting to dislike you – jealousy is a terrible emotion 🙂
LOL It was a fantastic experience and view, without the exertion of climbing up. 🙂
Thank you very much. NZ is an incredibly beautiful country.
Wow! Fantastic photos!
Thank you very much.
Wow, Lignum, how fortunate you were to experience this, and in a helicopter no less!!! These views are just breathtaking.
Thank you for sharing them here.
Indeed, it was a fantastic experience. I remember seeing your helicopter shots. It adds another dimension to our appreciation of the landscape before us.
The Remarkables are a mountain range? lol, i thought they were cartoon characters!
Remarkable aerial shots, indeed, a dragon’s eye view!
I know. The Remarkables, The Incredibles, The Expendables. I get confused which is which. 🙂 Thanks, Debbie. The view from the plane in and out was even more fantastic.
Shiny helicopter ride, oh yes. And definitely a plus for the extra 40 minutes. What luck and these are very crisp photos from above. Flying like a dragon should 😏😊
Thanks. I was running around madly for the first 10 minutes taking the photos I wanted. Then when I was told I had all that extra time, I slowed down and just enjoyed the view… and then I took more photos. 🙂 I was good to just soak in the views for a while.
It is always good to have extra time – not just to slow down, but perhaps to retrace your steps to places you might have been. But from following your adventurous, it sounds like any extra time you have, you like to explore some place anew 🙂
Yes, I like to get as much out of my holidays as I can I can always “relax” when I get back home. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thank you for your fantastic photographs from above the areas.
My pleasure. It was a wonderful experience up there.
Very beautiful photos! I like too the helicopter! 40 minutes! you are lucky!
Yes, I was very happy to have that extra time. Thank you so much.
I am soaking in the views from your photos… WOW! Thank you for sharing. (And by the way, I stare at that shadow for a long time, looking for clues. 😉
Have a wonderful day.
Thank you, Helen. I might have suggested you would have more luck searching for clues in the reflections in the helicopter, but I have already reviewed the photo fully so better luck next time. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Ah Mr Draco .. how nice to be up in that shiny helicopter! Bonus half hour .. lucky us 😃 NZ just loves the camera! Top shots as always …
It was a beautiful view up there. Not as cold as I expected, either. NZ is definitely photogenic. I’m looking forward to seeing and photographing more of it later. 🙂
Fantastic photos ~ I’d like to see such scenery in a helicopter, couldn’t think of a better way to see such beauty.
Thank you. It’s a completely different perspective. Quite beautiful to see.
You made great use of the extra time, fabulous photos as always.
Yes, I was in a rush to photograph what I could in 10 minutes, and then was very happy to have the extra time and enjoy the scenery.
A nice bit of luck there Mr Dragon. The pictures are as remarkable as the views. Superb!
Thank you very much. It was a joy to fly up there and experience the view from above.
It was fortunate that you were able to take the helicopter ride up here, and then to get extra free time is quite a bonanza. You made great use of your time, Draco, snapping these incredible photos, and I thank you for sharing them with us. The perspective from above, in all this grandeur, is indeed remarkable…an apt name.
Thank you, Jet. The extra time was indeed a bonus, allowing me breathing time to just enjoy it. It is a beautiful area.
Thanks for sharing these wonderful shots Lignum. Felt I was right up there with you. Breathtaking! Best wishes…Andrew
Thank you, Andrew. Hard not to be impressed by the fantastic views over this beautiful area.
Incredibly beautiful aerial photography,Draco!Gorgeous all the scapes,they look like drone shots 🙂
Thank you very much. From the air, everything comes into perspective.
Truly it does 🙂
🙂
Lucky you on the extra time! Great opportunity to take it all in, especially with such clear visibility. The scale and beauty of nature is always mesmerizing.
Indeed. It was a wonderful chance to see a different perspective of it all.
Looking at your photos of the Remarkables and surrounding landscape, I felt so tiny.
Indeed, we are small in the sight of such a grand landscape.
Woo Hoo! There’s a trip to the heights for you! Remarkable 🙂 🙂 I guess you have a decent head for it? Sublime shots, Draco.
I’m OK in a helicopter, even with the doors off, but don’t ask me to jump/rappel/parachute out. 🙂
It was a magnificent sight.
Oooh, me neither! 😦 😦 Horrors!
Exactly!
I like it 😊
Thanks.
Oh I cannot wait until February!
We’ll be staying in Queenstown for a week, and since I’ll be renting a motorcycle, perhaps I can find a way to The Remarkables.
There is a road up there but I’m not sure about vantage points along the way. That’s easy enough to check with Google Earth.There’s plenty to explore. A motorcycle is the perfect way to explore those mountains and valleys.
You are exceptional. A debt of gratitude is in order for sharing. Glossy helicopters shake! I figure your wings were at the shop being adjusted.
Thank you very much. Indeed, they shake a lot, but that’s part of the fun. 🙂
Appreciating your photos. My husband and I have been to NZ several times, although not recently. It is a beautiful Place.
Thank you very much. For such a small county, it has an abundance of beautiful and varied landscapes.
These mountains are indeed Remarkable! Thank you for the background nibbles of information, and for the unusual stunning view.
My pleasure. Thanks for the visit.
Amazing pics and an amazing experience, I bet.
Indeed it was. Thanks.
A remarkable! and jaw-dropping photos!!!! Fantastic! I am in love!
Thank you.
You’re most welcome…
Cheers.
The Remarkables, what a name!
Remarkable.
My son just said he wants to get on that helicopter. Well, I can’t blame him.
I don’t blame him either. It looked so cool, and the ride was amazing.
I bet.
There’s an anecdote about choppers. My sis is kind of obsessed with them. Always wanted to have a ride. We went skiing somewhere in the French Alps in a village that looked like a sleepy hollow. Hub and she get on the ski lift to head to the summit and I stay at the foot of the mountains. I’m more the summer than the winter kind of person. Anyway, we agree to call each other only in case of an emergency (roaming was expensive then). We part and they are terribly late. All of a sudden, I see a chopper flying low, hub carrying the skiing gear, and I’m thinking-No way?! So, she had that ride. Tore her tendon and was pretty high so the rescue crew had to bring her down with the helicopter.
It happened on the first day there. Needless to say, she stayed in bed the entire time, swollen and in pain.
I’m guessing she’s in no rush to ride in a helicopter again. I gave up skiing after breaking a rib and a tendon in the leg years ago. You gotta listen to the “warning signs”. 🙂