From the gondola lookout in Queenstown |
The Shotover Jet runs about every half hour, as the ride lasts only about 25 minutes. And once you arrive at their Shotover River office (an 8 km shuttle ride from downtown), they quickly throw you a lifejacket and a rubber water robe (it's basically like the cover you wear at a hair salon to protect your clothers), and line you up at the pier to wait for your boat. Our boat was only about 3/4 full, so of course I choose an edge seat to get as close as possible to those canyons! I didn't regret it either, as it is definitely more thrilling when the driver zooms you just under cliff edges and you feel like you have to duck your head to avoid getting clocked! Makes me wonder why we don't wear helmets, as there's a very small margin for error on these rides. These drivers supposedly get something like 120 hours of training before they can captain these boats - it helps that they are young guys who aren't afraid of what could happen. Anyhow, it was definitely a good thrill. Highlights for me were the close canyon turns and going upriver against the rapids! We did lots of 360 degree spins on the river but they weren`t that scary after awhile. Amazingly, these jet boats can speed along on only inches of water - the river was very low and we thought sometimes we were hitting the bottom but apparently those were just the rapids we were jumping over.
After the boat ride, Barry and I met up again in town and we walked up to the Skyline gondola and decided to combine with some luge rides at the top. These aren`t the luges you find at Canada Olympic Park (thank god!), they are sit-down sleds with handlebars to steer and control your speed. The views from the gondola and the lookouts at the top were fantastic - you can see why people are drawn to Queenstown for holidays. I can imagine this would alot of fun in the winter too. As for the luge rides - really fun, I wish we`d gone for more than the 2 rides! I was starting to feel that lure of all the adrenalin activites you can experience in Queenstown - there were paragliders taking off from the gondola and I was starting to consider it. So much to do, so little time, and we had a flight to catch the next morning back to Auckland. Sigh....
Barry you did not try the boat.....I wonder why :-0
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