The weather was proving to be a real hindrance for me to experience what later became the highlight of my whole trip. Staci in the office had prepared me the day before and even the morning of that the flight wouldn't be able to take place. It was threatening rain and more importantly, the winds were too high. While on my drive from Queenstown to Te Anau Staci called me back. She said there was a chance and my heart leapt. It would mean that we had to take the largest helicopter and that could change our route, payment, etc. That was ok with me.
Largest helicopter...ha ha, I needed a small stepladder to get into it! But it worked. Fraser (my pilot and I apologize if I've got the wrong name) and I lifted off on an approximately 2 hour flight of bliss. I'd already cruised through Doubtful and Dusky Sounds but to see it from the air, even in dark cloudy skies, was incredible.
We landed three times so that I could spend time just marveling at the beauty of it all. The first landing, however, was the magical one. Fraser had JUST finished saying to me: "Sometimes we see kea up here." The kea is an endangered cheeky alpine parrot. I'm a real bird-lover so seeing kea in the wild was one of my goals. I was lucky enough to see them 3 times during my trip. We turned around and there was a kea hopping down from where we left the helicopter to check us out. He got so close that he was only three feet away. I got a video of him hopping down to me and then it was like he posed so that I could get some good pictures. You can't arrange experiences like this. Nature just hands them to you when you're lucky.
I can't say enough about Te Anau Helicopter Services and the staff. They knew how important this flight was to me and did everything they could to make it happen. It was worth every minute and every penny.