To end our free day last night my mom and I ended up binge watching the last half of Squid Game: The Challenge (Trinity made me so mad with his decision but I was content with the ending). We decided to pre-order our Uber for our activity today and then went on to sleep. Luckily we woke up early enough to have a small bite to eat before the Uber picked us up to take us to our destination. Today I would do pilot training in a helicopter and my mom and I would do a scenic ride (seperate activities).

Once we arrived at GCH Aviation we were greeted by 2 lovely employees. The weather at the moment wasn’t necessarily the best with lite rain and cloudy skies and that was the exact reason they said they tried to contact us. Now was not the best time to be in a helicopter but it was expected to clear up a few hours later. My piloting activity was scheduled for 10am (duration 1 hour) with the scenic ride being scheduled at 11:30am (duration 20 minutes). It was suggested that I now do my activity at 3pm and the scenic ride at 4pm (we’d be joining another couple and a baby for the scenic ride).

We agreed, whatever would give us the best views as we had no other plans scheduled for the day as we had deemed this “helicopter day”. Karen (one of the employees) suggested to pass the time to visit the International Antartic Centre. We agreed and she thankfully gave us a ride over there (it was about 2 miles away). After securing tickets for 2 adults we wandered through the gift shop until it was time to experience what it’s like to ride in a hägglund (an all terrain vehicle used to navigate through Antartica’s harsh weather conditions).

A group of 14 were able to gather in one hägglund and off we were on the course that they built onsite. No matter where you sat the ride was bumpy but it was moreso in the back than the front (we sat in the front). A couple of things we learned during this experience was:
•Antartica is the highest, driest, coldest and windiest and remote continent
•1955 was the 1st time Americans flew from Christchurch to Antartica
•It takes between 5-7 hours for an aircraft to get to McMurdo Station from Christchurch depending on what aircraft is used
•The US Air Force has a special cargo plane called the Hercules LC-130 that it uses to take to Antartica. The plane is equipped with ski landing gear.
•The C-17 Globemaster is the biggest aircraft to fly from Christchurch to Antarctica
•A fully loaded hägglund weighs 4 tons

After riding the hägglund we continued to explore all that the centre had to offer. We went in room after room looking at different videos, facts, displays and simulations. A few that I found interesting was a storm room where the temperature was -8°C (18°F) and when the storm kicked in with the wind it felt like -18°C (-.4°F) (both being summer temperatures in Antartica). We were in there with a room full of kids at the time and they were having a ball dancing and playing in the frigid cold with the snow on the ground. The goal was to try to stay in for 5 minutes but after about 3 my mom and I decided to get ahead of the kids and leave.

Another activity I found interesting was the hand polar plunge where you place your hand in the icy cold water and leave it there for a minute (I do want to be brave enough to do a full polar plunge one day). I subjected my right hand to this test and I passed (and of course my hand was freezing for a while afterwards-the first 30 seconds are the hardest but then I found it easier to tolerate). While there we got a chance to see some penguins and huskies. Overall, I’d say the experience was worth it and that’s about as close as I’ll get to Antartica for now but I am definitely in search of a deal because I do want to go (my mom said she isn’t interested).

With about an hour and a half of time to kill before we needed to head back to GCH Aviation I decided that I’d walk to the neighboring grocery store that we passed on the way because we needed to get some water. My mom stayed at the cafe in the centre and I ventured over to Woolworth’s. My plan for just water went out the window as I saw some pre-made meals and grabbed about 3 different kinds along with some lamb somosas. I did manage to get the water along with a few other drinks.

Thankfully the Woolworth’s was in a small center so there were other eating places around so I got a lamb and chicken turkish kebab to split with my mom and headed back over to where she was. We ate that and then Ubered back over to GCH Aviation. Geordie would be my pilot instructor and he explained how everything would go and the route we’d take. I was ready but a little nervous as this would be my 1st time in a helicopter and especially “piloting” one. Once inside the two seater small helicopter I was instructed on the controls and up we went.

I’m going to be honest with how this experience went I maybe piloted only 20% of the time as Geordie did the majority of the work. There were 2 things that I found frustrating about the experience and the main one was all of the noise/feedback that I kept getting in the headset when he was trying to instruct me on what to do (all coming from the air traffic controller towers). I honestly couldn’t hear anything he said the majority of the time because everytime he went to speak someone else began speaking and it was loud.

As far as controls I found the cyclic which is like the steering wheel and accelerator/brake to be very sensitive. You really have to have a gentle hand when in control of it and hovering I found very hard to do. When you hover you are constantly moving the cyclic in a “t” or “cross” formation to keep it aligned straight and when I was in control it was going left then going right. You have pedals (a right and a left one that you place your feet on). The collective which you could say acts as a “shift gear” helps you go high and low.

I’ve had an interest in what pilots whether plane or helicopter do and the controls and after this I can say I somewhat see what it takes and for me the interest is no longer there (mainly because I can’t have all that talking in my headset the entire time, that would drive me crazy-and you need that). Despite the frustrations I enjoyed the views and the chance to learn to know I’m good on that. Once we arrived back I was given a pass certificate for doing a trial flight which I willl gladly keep as a souvenir.

As the couple and infant arrived the employees got everyone’s weight and we watched a safety video before heading out to the bigger helicopter which sat up to 6 people. My mom and I gave the couple and baby the 1st row of seats and we sat in the back row as everyone was able to have a window seat to see the views (plus this gave is more space in the back). Dan was our experienced pilot and once everyone was in we were up and away. Of course now we were going about twice as high as my previous flight and we were in the air for maybe 25-30 minutes as we went around the city.

It was a beautiful experience to spot certain landmarks and buildings from the air that we’d been to since we’ve been here in Christchurch like the airport (which is literally right next to us), Adventure Park and the new 30,000 person stadium. We passed different bodies of water and went over near one of the beaches where we could see people parasailing. It’s one thing to see views from a plane but to see them from a helicopter I found to be much more of an intimate experience (probably because it’s not as big as a plane). Doing a helicopter ride was on both my mom and I’s bucket list and we felt as though there was no better place than to do it here in New Zealand and I’m so glad we did. It’s definitely an experience I would do again in another location.

Once we were back at our starting point and on the ground we taking in the experience we just had. We posed for some photos and Karen said she’d send us what she took of us (which she did). We thanked everyone, ordered our Uber and headed towards our Airbnb. Back at the house we put up groceries, had a quick bite and drink and watched the movie “The Woman in Cabin 10” (my mother guessed the plot and ending correctly very early on). We both agreed that it was a movie we enjoyed.

The only thing left to do tonight as I wrap-up this write-up for today is to eat dinner and make sure we have everything situated for our last activity that we have planned here for tomorrow. Our time here is starting to come to an end but we have a couple more days ahead of us. Hang in there with us just a little bit longer as we wrap-up our time here in Christchurch.