“End your trip with a Crescendo!”

Today, we head for home. Our flight scheduled for a 2:30 takeoff. But first, one more adventure awaits us. We’re booked for hang gliding from Coronet Peak at 9am. In the summer, the flights take off from the base of the ski field. In the winter, they take the ski lift to the top and take off from there. I imagine it’s great to have a longer flight, but quite cold.

3500 feet was fine by me. We drove up the same mountains as we did for Skipper’s Canyon. About halfway up, Skipper’s Canyon Road takes off to the left and we keep climbing. Unfortunately, like Skipper’s Canyon, we had clouds. It was sunny at our takeoff spot, but a sea of clouds gathered in the valley below.

We geared up in the supplied windbreaker and a heavy apron that felt like what you have to wear when you get X-rays at the dentist office. A key piece of equipment they ask you to bring and wear are sunglasses. It makes sense, as they would keep the wind and bugs out of your eyes. Fred was paired with Max and me with Pablo. They were both Italians and would often slip into Italian speaking to each other.

So then we waited, and waited. I think we waited for over an hour before it was clear enough for us to take off. The waiting often would give me too much time to think about it and I have to admit to having bouts of anxiety. I was also concerned because we had a 2:30 flight for home to catch.

The clouds started clearing and one by one, the parasailers took off. Only the two hang gliding teams were left. It seemed like Max and Pablo were very quiet with only a brief word or two to one another and sometimes repositioning themselves on the mountain. Then I hear Max count down 3, 2, 1, and off he and Fred went.

Pablo and I are the only ones left; even the shuttles have gone. We were at the top of a hill, so steep that I would have been very cautious to hike down, let alone run down. Pablo said, “Okay, it’s good. You ready?”

Then it was, “3,2,1, Walk, Walk, Walk, Run, runrunrunrun!”

It was such a surreal experience. The green patchwork of the pastures below didn’t look threatening and I had to remind myself I was flying. I was surprised how quiet it was. I thought the wind would keep me from hearing any further instructions Pablo may have for me. We went through the last little wisps of clouds and he showed me how to pilot the glider. We’re flying! As we approached the landing area, I could see a large smiley face cut into the grass. Pablo took over the glider and without warning did dips and spins. At first I was scared, but then it was fun; and then it was over all too soon.

Our landing spot was next to Flight Park Café. There were several others there, other parasailers from a different company, and several groups at the café having breakfast and enjoying the entertainment. We were shown pictures and videos of our flights that we purchased.

It was a bit of a wait before our transport back to town arrived and we were getting a bit antsy. The driver knew we had a flight to catch and was nice enough to drop us off where we had parked the car, saving us about a 15-minute walk.

We dropped off our car at Ace and had about an hour and a half before departure. This proved to be way more time than we needed. We are so used to the 2-hour check-in in the States and Queenstown is a small airport.

We connected in Auckland and lounged in the Koru Lounge there. Our flights were on time and service very good. Our only complaint is the onboard entertainment system is a little clunky to use and often shows would pixilate and cut off about 2 minutes before the show ended.

All in all, a fantastic trip!