A squirrel in them there hills.

On Thursday the young troops went off into the hills around Lake Rotoiti in the Nelson Lakes area to do some maintenance on the remote weathers stations. Transport for the day was provided by the Aerospatiale AS 350BA ZK-HWF3 (c/n 1646) of Anatoki Helicopters Ltd from Nelson.
Above is the pre mission briefing at St Arnaud. The hour is not long after sparrow flatulence - the plan being to get in - do the job - and get out before the heat and turbulence builds up.

Two on the site pics. In the above one (if you use your imagination) you can just see a crepuscular ray of light beaming down onto the front screen - surely a good omen.

Just about baulked out - The chilly bin is the fodder supply. The lap tops and sensors are all just secondary items.

ZK-HWF has previously been operated in NZ as ZK-HST2 and ZK-HZR1.