Thread: Drones on DOC land

Originally Posted by Nick-D

Yeah, heaps of people using them without permits.

Better off without em imo, they are noisy obnoxious things, back country feels a bit less like the back country with one of them flying around.

Makes life a bit harder for the small time YouTuber I spose, but thats the trade off to keeping wild places wild.

A pox on all back country drone pilots, had one fly over us up the Oroua a year or so ago, it was a very unwelcome event in an otherwise peaceful outing. I go up the bush to get away from technological intrusions into our lives, so to have one buzzing around really ruined the day for me.
Went to Niue a few years ago, we were in a small cavern with about 3 metres of water as its floor, absolutely stunningly beautiful setting with the sunlight reflecting off the water to bounce all over the roof, I can still picture it in my mind. My kids were swimming around, while my wife and I lazed on the edge admiring the view, when another kiwi tourist turned. We said our hellos, bit of a chat and I asked her why she came to Niue. She told us she enjoyed the untouched natural beauty of the place, with few tourists and minimal human impact on the landscape. Her husband and son then joined us, unpacked their drone and flew it around in the cavern for the next 10 minutes "getting the right footage". I avoided them like the plague for the rest of the time we were on the island.