Land on a glacier by private helicopter

Twenty minutes from the lake to a snowfield in the Southern Alps, and a landing somewhere with no road, no track and no one else on it.

The flight runs up over the Remarkables or Mount Aspiring country, across braided rivers and beech forest, and into the high alpine. The scale only registers once you are between the peaks rather than looking at them — the range holds hundreds of glaciers, and the ice you land on may be tens of metres thick.

Landing sites are chosen on the day for snow condition, wind and cloud. You get twenty minutes or so on the ice: absolute silence once the rotor stops, and a horizon of nothing but rock and snow in every direction.

Many operators combine the landing with a run over Milford Sound or a wine-country lunch on the way back, which turns a scenic flight into a full day and removes the long drive to Fiordland.