Day 18 - Skippers Creek and Queenstown

Monday 14th February            route map

Collected from our hotel at 08.30 by Aden from Southern Explorer in a Land Rover Discovery and headed for Skippers Canyon.

It developed into a beautiful morning after early cloud lifted.

We followed the original gold mining trail into Skippers Canyon and along the famous Shotover River. A spectacular route that hugs the canyon walls through a region rich with gold mining history.

Part way we parked up and while Sandra and I went for a walk Aden set up a picnic table and fried us some delicious pikelets to accompany a very welcome cup of coffee. Christine may like to know that Aden was a part time fireman and we felt very safe.

  He was very capable and knowledgeable with a Kiwi sense of humour.

Not a road for the feint hearted and only accessible in a 4x4 vehicle.

No hire vehicles are allowed.

  

We drove across the old Skipper's Bridge, where we saw signs of very early Bungee jumping over Deep Gully, and went into Skippers School and Mt. Aurum Homestead which are now preserved as museums.

The views were fantastic. Pleased not to be doing the driving so were able to take it all in.

This trip was fantastic and definitely another HH.

Aden was very professional, an excellent driver and guide.

He even attached a tiny 8 mega pixel camera to the wing mirror of the Range Rover which was taking digital photographs of the route every three minutes. At the end of the journey he produced a small portable screen (like an i pad) from his glove compartment and showed us the photos. He then offered to burn the images onto a disc and produced a battery driven CD burner from the same glove compartment. Talk about Hi Tec!

Not a match for JB's photos though!

   

This picture shows what the track was like. No barriers at the sides and if you met another vehicle it was a nightmare to back up.

 Fortunately this only happened once and the other vehicle did the backing up.

We were dropped back at Shotover Lodge just before 1pm and had lunch before setting off on our own to Lake Hayes and the historic Kawarau Bridge which is the home of Bungy pioneers AJ Hackett and Henry Van Asch's first commercial Bungy site.

It was here in 1988 that the Bungy phenomenon began. It is 43 metres (142 ft) above the stunning Kawararau River and is still the most popular Bungy Jump in New Zealand. It was quiet when we arrived as we only watched four jumpers in all. The Kawarau Bridge is about a twenty minute drive out of Queenstown.

From there we headed for the Gondola in Queenstown but decided as it was such a lovely day we would walk up - big mistake! The walk was obviously steep and all in the trees with hardly any views until we reached the top 1hr and 20 minutes later. However at least we can say we did it. Sandra is pointing out on the photo the distance we climbed.

The Gondola also has a Bungy jump but not as big as Kawarau Bridge. Once at the top of the Gondola ride you can choose to para-glide or mountain bike down. You can also ride in a luge back to the Gondola station.

Lots of options if you have loads of money to spend and bags of time.

The views were stunning on such a beautiful afternoon.

Definitely another HH and best done in the afternoon light.

We decided to take the Gondola back down into Queenstown and rewarded ourselves with meal at 'Pog Mahones' Irish Pub. Sandra had her first taste of New Zealand lamb with vegetables while JB tucked in to pork sausage and mash with onion gravy. Both meals were delicious.

The picture on the left was taken especially for Glenis. 

There was lots going on along the park edge of the lake.Tight rope walkers, buskers and all sorts of street entertainment probably because it was a lovely evening. Queenstown is a busy and bustling place. It is in a beautiful setting and there is plenty to do especially if you like the active outdoor life and have loads of money.

Got back to Shotover Lodge at around 8.30pm. All in all a great day helped by fabulous weather. The whole day was a HH (except for the slog up the Gondola path).