Queenstown (Skippers Canyon) - Day 85

We'd heard so much about the jetboatimg experience in NZ that we thought we best give it a go. There had been a few operators to choose from along the way but with one eye on our swiftly diminishing pennies we opted for the cheapest version in the area. At $95pp, the Skippers Canyon operators seemed our best bet, as it turned out - we made the right choice for a number of reasons. We had no idea where skippers canyon was but when the driver came to pick us up in a custom built 4x4 we suspected we were in for an interesting ride! Halfway up to the Coroner Peak ski fields our driver Mel, stopped the mini "Samel", got out the car to let the pressure out the tires - at this point he decided to put on his seat belt and engaged the 4wheel drive. Kimmy and I exchanged looks in the back, made sure our belts were on and gripped the seats in anticipation of what was to come.

Not sure which part was scarier, the drive to the jet boat in Skippers Canyon or the jet boat itself but both had more than sufficient adrenalin rushing through veins to last a lifetime. The canyon road was not for the faint hearted - a meter wide on both sides of the truck most of the way, muddy tracks a foot deep, a couple hundred meters vertical drop to the river below and hairpin bends called 'bus crash corner' ensured that we all but left hand prints on the grab rails in the car. If anyone ever comes to NZ, then we highly suggest you try the jet boating. Turns out that the skippers canyon operators were the original designers of the jetboat engine. A propeller situated within the hull of the boat pushes up to 360 liters of water per second from a vent under the hull through the back. The results are speeds of up to 85km/h in water that in some parts is only 3 inches deep and maneuverability that allows the driver to weave the boat through fairly narrow canyons at high speeds.

Difficult to describe but we have a movie clip that shows it all, will try get it up on the blog but need to try and compress the 100MB file (anyone have any ideas?). We've put some pics up in the meantime to try and give you an idea of what it was like - my favourite is the one of Kimmy staring down the bottom of the canyon when Del gave us a chance to step out of the car on the canyon road to take in the amazing views. All in all, an amazing experience that we highly recommend you set aside some pennies in your NZ travelling budget. We're off skiing tomorrow, can't wait!