Thread: Kaweka heli bookings....

Just a heads up for those of you that had pre existing bookings through EKH before their closure - it appears all the old EKH bookings have recently been deleted (assuming doc have cleared them all out)

So if you hadn't changed heli operators already it might pay to check the booking website & see if you're bookings still there.

Thye seemed to have a clearout a while back (around November), but I noticed the other day a whole lot of March bookings had disappeared. I assumed it was EKH ones.

Yeah DOC actually advised me that they were still good until they had been changed to the new operator & that EKH had given them all their booking details etc...

Was a bit of a shock to see my April booking had disappeared, luckily i happened to look at the bookings & managed to re-book the same hut & dates

I see Manson hut is now available from 9th Feb to 8th March - I'm pretty sure that was booked pretty solid right through when I looked last week (Manson and Tussock seem to pretty fully booked most of the year).
There will be some pissed off people if they lose their roar bookings!

My April booking for Manson was 7th-14th thankfully i got it again, but there was one in front of us which is still vacant.

I imagine there could be some heartache over this hence putting it out there.

The most important thing to come out of all this is that there is an urgent need for an alternative to Heliska, prefably based to the east of the kawekas

Helisika $2,200 to back ridge return! I asked them to quote for me by myself. Same price for 3. I will probably never tread back ridge again.

Hawkes bay helicopters have just got their concession for the Kawekas, so could be an option from the East - but yeah unfortunately Bridge Pa will never be as close as Puketitiri

Bit of a shame that no-one else has picked up the gap left by Chris. We looked at it through Heli Sika but way to expensive for a couple of guys from the South.

Originally Posted by Sika 8

Hawkes bay helicopters have just got their concession for the Kawekas, so could be an option from the East - but yeah unfortunately Bridge Pa will never be as close as Puketitiri

Bridge Pa is a long way alright and would cost heaps to fly, but I wonder if they could lease Chris's hangar for a couple of months thru the roar and base a chopper there....

Midwest out of Taihape is also an option was cheaper than helisika to southern huts.

Originally Posted by Cigar

Bridge Pa is a long way alright and would cost heaps to fly, but I wonder if they could lease Chris's hangar for a couple of months thru the roar and base a chopper there....

Jimmy will happily pick you up from a roadend
They don't charge to fly from bridge pa

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Originally Posted by Tahr

Helisika $2,200 to back ridge return! I asked them to quote for me by myself. Same price for 3. I will probably never tread back ridge again.

Thats just daylight robbery. Better off going overseas and hunting skirt!

Anyone have any idea whether HeliHunt'nFish still operate from Rangitaiki?

Hi all
I've been tracking the numbers and since EKH stopped flying there has been a decrease of 31% in the number of parties flying in to the Kaweka FP over the last 12 months compared to the previous year. It seems that the cost to fly to the southern huts is getting beyond many hunters, and along with some other issues are voting with their feet. Last year (2022) there were 325 parties flown in to the park, compared to 469 for the previous year. That is a reduction of 144 parties mainly not hunting as some will be primarily fisherman, but still a huge reduction in hunting effort. Another element is that if we assume that there are 3 passengers on each flight (flights in the squirrel could have up to 5 passengers) and the DOC fee of $50 pp applies then DOC raked in at least $48,750 last year, and $70,350 for the previous year from hunters for doing next to nothing! I am hoping another provider will start flying from the southern end, however the process DOC insists on doesn't encourage new players.

Cheers
Ruger7mm