Coronet Peak Paragliding

Picture above is a panorama from the top of the ski lift looking back down to the valley. The actual landing area was about 4km around to the left of the mountain as you look out (which couldn't be seen from here)

Paul hadn't rang, which was a bit surprising, as I was sure he said he was going to one of the ski fields around Queenstown today.
In any case, I figured he might have just had another big night, and was late. I walked into town to offload some excess baggage back to Oz, and I thought if I'm going to hitch a ride up there, I'd better at least check what the weather conditions are. Weather forecast was for strong wind, but knowing how wrong the forecasts usually are, I really wanted to know from someone who might be up there. I give Keith a call from Elevation Paragliding (the same group I iniitially tried to do my license with but the weather wasn't looking promising at the time) and ask him what he reckons the conditions will be like and says he doesn't know but has a tandem flight booked at 11am (but not promising the customer anything) so he's going up there anyway. Keith says, "where are you now?", to which I later realise I'm about 100m away from him! So I get in, we pick up the tandem customer (Lee), and his pilot, Swannee and head on up to Coronet Peak. We get to drive right up next to the ski lift, hop on and ride the 6 seater chair lift with 3 people and a couple of gliders on board.

We're all amazed when we get to the top, that the weather is perfect. It's completely clear skies and a light 5km/h breeze blowing up the mountain at just the right angle. Swannee and Lee head off first, and I follow in a few minutes later (with a quick flight check from Keith) to glide from the 5400ft peak down to the valley below.

Above picture is the area down in the valley where we landed.