Skippers Canyon Jetbaoting or Hiking

Jet Tours:  If you ever visit the great Skippers Canyon please take a jet boat trip. Get on the bus tours where the bus driver/tour guide provides you the history of Queenstown, the gold rush, info about the landscape and much more during our ride to and down into the canyon. Once you arrive there then jumped on a speed boat and enjoyed a ride up the canyon about 10k and back. It was a small group so I feel we all got the seat we wanted! The bot driver stopped along the way up the river to show us some old gold mining ruins. Very informative once again. On the way back we had no stops and even more speed as we were going with the current. After the boat ride we went to the office/gathering building to use the restroom, oh our bill, and purchase photos if we wanted. For only $40 you got a few hard copy photos and more on a flash drive. A good price compared to what I have seen elsewhere. Hiking the Skipper canyon Start at the Skippers Point Cemetery which is 5 min one way. Follow the road to the left of the information shelter and turn right at the first junction. A silent, stone-fenced record of Skippers’ pioneers, that contains 20 headstones and graves. The follow the road to the left of the information shelter. The Upper Shotover Public School, later known as Skippers Point School, was open between 1879 and 1927.  DOC restored it between 1989 and 1992 and installed interpretation panels. These provide an insight into the school, gold mining and life in Skippers. Follow the road to the left of the information shelter. One of only two timber buildings remaining from Skippers’ gold mining era, inside it features information on the homestead and the station. Follow the easy 4WD track across Londonderry then Pleasant Terraces to panels describing the obvious mining and sluicing scars in front of you. Beyond Pleasant Terrace, trampers with some experience can make their way up Stony Creek to the junction with Murphys Creek North and pass more gold mining relics along the way. Know before you go Only experienced drivers should attempt this journey. Because of its challenges, and precipitous drop-offs, this is not a road on which to learn gravel-driving techniques.