The long-standing New Zealand Defence Force worker said his drone fascination was sparked after he saw one in action in an online video and thought it would be useful for taking interesting photographs.
"You can get photos that you normally can't get from the ground and that's what I like about it," said Mr Morrell.
He started researching the models and bought a simple one only to up-grade to the $2000 Yuneec Q500 six months later.
"One of the safety aspects of good flying is that you don't lose line of sight, line of sight is so important.
"If you can't see it, well then you're not flying safe."
The Yuneec Q500 picks up six to 18 satellite signals on the quadcopter and the controller, meaning they can talk to each other, which minimises the chances of a crash or fly-away occurring.
Fly-aways usually happened when the GPS signal is lost, but Mr Morrell said if his quadcopter gets lost or goes out of range then the controller sends it a "return to home" signal.
Mr Morrell said the correct term for "drone", in the sense of how he used his one, was actually an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
He said drones, nicknamed that because of the noise they make, are used by the military to drop bombs and are operated by someone many miles away.
Mr Morrell said there had been no reports of runaways or crashes with his current UAV, which had many safety features, such as altitude height limits, making it "the best model for a novice to fly".
"Its very easy to use, a 6-year-old child could play with this, under parental guidance of coarse."
He said his old UAV only had a seven-minute battery life and you had no control over the camera that was switched on before take-off.
"With the new one I can change the camera angle, take photos, take video and change the frames per second while it's in the air."
It has a battery life of up to 25 minutes and it always captures steady images while it's flying around, thanks to the camera being on a three-axis gyro.
As of August 1, hobby drone operators will be unable to fly over private property without first seeking permission from the property owner.
"I have read the new rules and I don't know how that is going to work.
"What's the difference between using my camera and taking a photo of a nice building to using my UAV?
"It's just another camera platform except higher up."
He said "it's just common sense" that flying over somebody elses house was an invasion of privacy but understands the rules are in place becasue of some "idiots out there".
Mr Morrell, also a train hobbyist who makes scale models of NZ railways, moved from Auckland to Carterton with his wife in 2004.
"We have never looked back from Auckland, it was a good move.
"Wairarapa has everything that Auckland hasn't got.
"The people are friendlier, there's open space and no traffic."
Mr Morrell's advice to new UAV users is to always plan before their flights.
"Be aware of what your doing, who's around you and what they are doing."
He said he's not interested in getting into UAV operating professionally but he enjoys using it to help other people with various things.
"Once I took it around to a friend's house and inspected his gutters.
"Another time I took it to a friend on a farm who wanted to see how badly his water catchment pond was overgrown with weeds."
Aside from work, making train models and flying his quadcopter, Mr Morrell is working on an array of "never ending" landscaping projects on his four-acre lifestyle property, on which he and his wife have planted 1800 native trees.
