Volcanic Air — Attraction in North Island

It is hard to find the words to describe this "Dual Volcano Landing" flight. It is probably pretty unique in the world. The flight out to the coast from Rotorua is brilliant enough, but approaching and landing on White Island is out of this world. Exploring the crater on foot is then interesting, unusual and other-worldly. So accessible in this way, and yet so remote from one's normal experience. The landing on Mount Tarawera is also one of life's great adventures with 360-degree views of an amazing landscape. Without a doubt, this flight was one of the greatest highlights not just of our month-long New Zealand trip but also of my entire experience of travel to over 70 countries.

We were blessed with a beautiful cloudless day for our flight which added to our enjoyment. Our pilot was terrific, constantly engaged with her passengers in addition to her obviously experienced flying skills. She also acted as the guide for our walks in the landing sites. Great kudos to her.

This is a flight of a lifetime, and worth saving up for its understandably high ticket price. If you are in NZ for an extended visit and can rake together the dollars, this trip plus a Mt Cook ski plane/glacier landing flight and a Fiordland sounds flight out of Te Anau would be my recommendations for intense enjoyment plus...

It is probably very exciting if this is your first helicopter flight but if not, results may vary based on your seat and pilot. In my case, I had a rather disappointing flight to Mt. Tarawera.

The first part of the flight (before the landing) I had a middle seat which means you see very little. The 2nd part of the flight (after the landing) I had a window seat which means you do have decent views.

When we did fly past the crater the right side of the aircraft apparently had a great view, the highlight of the flight. I however was seated on the left so I could see Jack Sh*t. No problem, we're in a helicopter so the pilot can do a 180 so the other side can see it as well... right? Nope, too bad. My fault for sitting on the wrong side of the aircraft.

If I have to shell out NZ$590 I would expect that only seats are sold that have good views (i.e. window seats) and that the pilot makes sure both sides of the helicopter can see the same. That's however not the case so you might end up with an empty wallet and having nothing to...

This experience was nothing short of a sensational adventure. From the ‘airport’ on a pontoon on the lake in central Rotorua where we saw first a helicopter then our plane and another come in to land on the lake, moor and get refueled (fuel filler cap top of wing, kerosene from a pump on the pontoon). All happening just feet away. To the plane - an agile six seater Cessna 206 floatplane, which required some contortions to get seated in. But mainly, thanks to our pilot, Ben, 24 years old I think and what a splendid, cheerful, informative, confident and competent chap he is. And he needs to be - we banked and turned over extinct volcanoes and bright coloured volcanic lakes to, 40 minutes later, land on a river where we visited a spectacular geothermal feature and had lunch on the decking of a very nice cafe overlooking the river before flying back. Every minute memorable. It’s expensive but so...