Just been away for a week and a half ski holiday down at Tongariro staying in Ohakune and making a few side/day trips along the way. One of those diversions was to stop in at Huka Falls in Taupo and check out the once mighty, now static, Mil Mi-8 which is parked up next to HelicopterTours office. Supposedly the machine was used to do some heavy-lift forestry work in NZ after it was imported and in a former life is alleged to have been a personal transport for Fidel Castro.

What an amazing machine, and great that the tour company allow punters to have a peek inside. Check out my flickr photo set for a few internal shots, including cabin and cockpit, to get a sense of the scale of the monsters. Very cool.