Flying on Water

Sunday morning we did the Shotover Jet Boat on, of course, the Shotover River through the canyons.  It was a bit of a gamble -- the website made it look pretty interesting, but in actuality it far exceeded my hopes and expectations.

If we look cold, that's because it is!

I had reserved seats on the 10am ride --figuring after the previous day's trip to Milford Sound (which I still owe a write up of -- but read Maddy's blog post for a full accounting of) -- we would be a bit groggy.  Given that it was the NZed (pronounced N-Zed) switchover to Daylight Savings Time, the later schedule was fortuitous, especially for Maddy, who was getting up three hours earlier than she had been in Sydney.

Maddy is back row, left.

Carol and I are middle row, left.

After a successful breakfast at the house of eggs, toast, and, best of all, reheated grilled lamb from the night before, we headed out.  Check-in was easy -- we had arrived early enough that they switched us to the 9:45am.

The pictures don't do it justice.  Hope to

upload the video in a couple of posts.

We were dressed in full winter gear -- it was 36 degrees, and since we'd be moving quickly on the water, we had hats, gloves, and they gave us bright red face scarves, which when put on, made us look like terrorists from a bad Die Hard sequel.  Once underway, the face scarves failed to stay up (but at least our necks were warm).  They then put us on the 9:30 boat, since they were running two, had space, and didn't see the need to keep us waiting.

Our driver, Ryan, was amazing.  The jet boat was amazing.  We were able to skim over rocks just barely below us -- and we were traveling at a high rate of speed -- over 90 kph at top speed.  The great part was, after the obligatory slide past the docks to get photos to buy (which we did!), was traveling at a high rate of speed through the canyons.  See pictures of the boat through the canyon on their website.

Three things in particular stand out.  First, how close we get to the canyon walls, the riverbank, or huge branches in the middle of the river -- all at a high rate of speed.  There is no question why they have the "keep your hands in the boat at all times" policy, because if you reached out to touch the canyon walls, your arms would likely be ripped off, and that, my friends, is a bad outcome.

Second, the boat could be turned to the right or left, but still go straight.  Not sure how that works, but it felt like we were about to slam into the walls at any second, exploding in a big ball of flames like in a Hollywood movie.  (Spoiler alert: we didn't slam into the walls.  Sorry if you weren't sure -- you can now skip to the end.)

Third -- how is there not something like this in the States?  It's tons of fun, exhilarating, and has been around since 1965.  The company has it down to a science -- and seemed packed even on a cold day.  They have an interesting set up -- they have about 7 kms of the river to go up and down (we went through the canyon section four times -- twice up, and twice back), and no other boats (even private) are allowed on that section of the river.  But, they can't go out of their section.

The Shotover is the second richest gold river in the world, behind, of course, the Klondike in Canada.  It is still being prospected today.  At one point in the 1800s along the banks we sped past, 3,000 people lived, panning for gold.

If you come to Queenstown, make sure you do the Shotover Jet!