The excitement levels are building again for hunters for this year’s Roar which kicks off around the middle of March. Hunters are already getting in touch to book their helicopter flights to their roar blocks and it’s gearing up to be a busy and exciting time. We have put together the details on everything you need to know to get your Roar flight sorted with Wanaka Helicopters or Backcountry Helicopters for the season ahead.
Booking Your Hunting Flight
By utilising both of our bases we are able to offer a wide range of departure locations for your hunting trips allowing us to easily service all of the local roar blocks across the region.
Our departure locations include Wanaka Airport, Makarora, Haast Airstrip, Pleasant Flat, Arawata Bridge, Martyr Homestead, and the Waitatoto River Bridge. Our departure locations are located close to popular local hunting blocks, ensuring proximity and reducing our ferry time. This helps to not only make sure we can get you in and out of your block efficiently but also reduces the cost for hunters flying with us.
Your Roar trip is a special annual event, one with much anticipation built up around it so to help we’ve compiled all the essentials to ensure you’re organised and ready by the time March rolls around.
Packing for Your Heli Trip
If you are travelling via helicopter for the roar it’s wise to be up with the play on what you can and can’t take on board, as well as the weight limits for your heli drop. Here at Wanaka Helicopters and our sister companies, we do have restricted items and weight limits, like most operators do, so it’s best to be up to speed on what you can and can’t bring on board to ensure you are prepped for your trip and don’t have to leave items behind at the hangar.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) limits the dangerous goods we can carry. Please take note of and apply the following limits to your gear list:
NO LPG bottles with passengers. No exceptions.
Ammunition: Max 5kg per person per load.
Butane gas canisters: Max 1 kg per package (not bigger than 500 g each canister).
White Spirits: Max 5 litres per load in approved containers (e.g. metal fuel flasks).
Petrol: Max 5 litres per load in approved containers (e.g. petrol/diesel jerries).
Last year the NZ Hunter team shared a quick, useful video on packing for your Helicopter trip so we recommend you watch this prior to your trip. You can find it here.
Pricing & Booking
We know your Roar Flight might be a once in a year event and we know the costs can escalate pretty quickly. By offering multiple departure locations which are all close to the Roar Blocks we can guarantee competitive pricing as our pricing is based on your departure location.
We do have limited availability for our Roar flights and we try to backload as much as possible so if you would like to book or enquire we encourage you to do so as soon as possible.
If you haven’t had a quote from us before we encourage you to get in touch to arrange a specific quote. You can email [email protected] for a quote or for more information call us on 03 443 1085.
We look forward to an awesome hunting season ahead and look forward to all the stories
