The third and final 2016 Chatham Islands tour
group arrives on the tarmac at Inia William Tuuta Memorial Airport on Saturday
morning, having flown direct from Te Anau Airport Manapouri. The last of three
independent charter tours of the Chatham Islands returned home to Manapouri on
Tuesday, and bookings for next summer are already coming in. Te Anau aviation enthusiast Merv Halliday has
toured about 240 people from Te Anau Airport Manapouri direct to the Chathams
since 2014, including 121 people over the past two weeks. The travellers hailed
from all over Southland and Otago, and from as far afield as Haast, Blenheim,
and Picton, Mr Halliday said. For the Chatham Islands, these tours were bigger
than any other. “When I arrived with the first 40, there was a big fuss about
it being the biggest ever,” Mr Halliday said. The four-day tour was an
opportunity to explore the unique landscapes, history, and industry of the
islands, 680km from mainland New Zealand. Word of mouth had packed the tours to
capacity, and it was already looking likely that they would run again in
January 2017, he said. “There were people ringing my home last night, who had
been talking to people who came off the last flight, wanting to book to come on
the next one.”
Source : Fiordland Advocate, 21 January 2016
Friends were on the second rotation and had a fantastic time. Their visit was extended a day due to inclement weather across the South Island precluding the return flight. I was interested to see photos they had taken of the Convair interiors and was not aware they had different overhead bins / seats. I thought their fleet was all the same on the inside!
ReplyDeleteI suspect CIE and CIF are set up for tours more while CIB is solely for the Chathams run
ReplyDeleteCIE & CIF are airliners with proper interiors. CIB has the overhead bins removed to make space for cargons, pax interior is made from some big soft 727 seats with some carpet.
ReplyDeleteBut they are all comfortable, the engines make a reassuring purr and its nice and cozy.
Thanks... good explanation
ReplyDelete