Queenstown is known as the Adventure Capital of New Zealand (and some say the world).  There are all kinds of possibilities – mountain climbing, rock climbing, jet boating, kayaking, hang gliding, tandam paragliding and bungy jumping.  In fact, commercial bungy jumping got its start in Queenstown in 1988.

We rode on the Skippers Canyon Jet Boats.  We began our day as we traveled through Skippers Canyon to the launch area.  The drive through the canyon was incredible – it was beautiful and adventurous as we made sharp curves and could see the sheer drop-off immediately outside the van windows.  I had trouble with my seat belt and finally told my husband it really wouldn’t make any difference.  We stopped before the road really narrowed and saw these beautiful views.

Just before we got back on the van, I took a picture of a sign indicating upcoming road conditions.  The sign and some pictures of the road follow.  In some of the pictures you will see Douglas fir trees that are dead.  Because they grow so tall, they are killing trees indigenous to New Zealand.  For this reason, they are being killed so the indigenous trees are not endangered.  Other pictures are simply some of the beautiful views we saw while driving.

At our next stop, we walked through a rather foreboding entrance – but it took us to an open area with views of the Shotover River, where we would later ride on a jet boat.  There were also displays of utensils and tools that had been found in the area – many from the old gold-mining days.

We then arrived at the place where we would board our jet boat.  The first two pictures are ones I took as another boat was returning.  The others were taken by cameras with motion sensors as we were on our adventure.  Jet boats pull water in from underneath, move it through a pump jet, and shoot it out the back of the boat.  They can operate in just four inches of water and can reach speeds of almost 50 miles an hour.  We maneuvered close to canyon walls and made a couple of 360 degree turns!

After our jet boat ride, we drove to a bridge where we would meet a helicopter to take us out of the canyon.  From the bridge, we saw the Shotover River again and people setting up for a bungy jump.  Then our helicopter arrived.  We boarded and as we flew out of the canyon, we saw beautiful views of the river, countryside and Queenstown.

After landing, we took a van to the Skyline Terminal near Queenstown and took a gondola almost 1500 feet up from the terminal.   We ate outside overlooking mountains and also took in the views from an observatory.  From this vantage point, we saw the Remarkables, Lake Wakatipu and Queenstown.  All of our experiences throughout the day made us feel adventurous – just what Queenstown is famous for!