#jet boating

Top 10 Water Sports Activities To Do In New Zealand

THERE IS A LOT OF WATER IN NEW ZEALAND – A LOT.

If it isn’t in the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean surrounding the 15,000km of coastline, it’s the obscene amount of lakes (3,820 of them to be exact). New Zealandhas made the most out of these waters by hosting some incredible water sports. From a casual exploration trip by kayak to fighting to keep inside your raft in white water rafting, there…

We drove through the entire South Island over 10-11 days. The thrill of an adventure lies in surrendering to the unknown. Our quest for the unknown first took us to Lake Tekapo.

Anyone who’s been to New Zealand (NZ) will tell you, you can’t go a mile without a water body. You can run, you can hide, but boy you can’t shake ’em off!! Our first love in NZ was Lake Tekapo. We owned that lake!!Reuben & I were the only touristy folks there. Imagine our joy… Going from a country with the din of 1.3 billion people and being transported to this idyllic haven – a lake, snowcapped mountains and only the mesmerizing sounds of nature. It was magical! We were ecstatic & wondered why we couldn’t spend all 2 weeks there. I think the resort sensed our predicament and decided to make it harder for us to leave. We’d get back to our room and find a bottle of wine or a cheese, strawberry and chocolate platter… It was a conspiracy!!

With a heavy heart we bade goodbye to Lake Tekapo & headed towards Queenstown. We’d barely driven a km when we first sighted Lake Pukaki. Tekapo was forgotten in seconds! We’d found our second love & this one was way sweeter than our first. Out came the camera and we took some 100 pics before realizing we couldn’t possibly capture what we were seeing. You have to live that experience!!

Our next stop was Gold Ridge resort on the outskirts of Queenstown. We would wake up to this 180-degree view of a gigantic lake again surrounded by snow-capped peaks! You cannot run out of things to do here. There is something for everyone. Nature junkies – Do not miss the Milford sound cruise. As you cruise through the sound, the captain takes you directly under the waterfalls so don’t believe them when they tell you it’s a dry cruise!! We loved it!!

When we’re young, most of us enjoy stupid, crazy things. Over a period of time, we mask our crazy side to conform with societal norms & etiquettes. Well! NZ just brings out the crazy in people!! Reuben & I have never been adrenalin junkies but we were jumping off cliffs and jet boating and laughing through a luge ride or quad biking. Boy I cannot describe that feeling. You’re just “free”!! Something stirs in you that’s been long forgotten!! Every sense awakens!! Just thinking about it makes me want to go back again.

Anyways, up next was Franz Josef Glacier. We stayed at the Rainforest retreat – Six acres of native bush surrounded by lush punga groves. I loved our self-catering tree lodge!! We weren’t fit for a glacier walk but our days were well spent walking along glacier trails, chatting up with an occasional mirror lake and enjoying a Tranz scenic train that eventually took us to Christchurch.

I’d like to think we’ve covered a fair share of the globe, but New Zealand continues to be my favorite… Add it to your bucket list if it isn’t already at the top!!

Our Itinerary & Accommodation

Christchurch to Lake Tekapo: Peppers Bluewater Resort Lake Tekapo to Queenstown: Gold Ridge Resort (Cover Milford Sound Cruise) Queenstown to Franz Josef: Rainforest Retreat Franz Josef to Greymouth to Christchurch

Activities

Milford Sound day tour with cruise – From Queenstown – Can’t recall the operator we used, but you’ll be spoilt for choices Tranz Scenic train – From Greymouth to Christchurch Jet boating – Shotover from Queenstown – http://www.shotoverjet.com/ Para Gliding – Queenstown – http://www.nzgforce.com/ Luge Ride- Queenstown – http://www.skyline.co.nz/queenstown/luge/

Recommendations

Best time to go: March to April

Ideal Trip time: 15 days

Jet Boating & Siberia Valley

In 1953 a New Zealander called Bill Hamilton invented the first operational Jet Boat. The vast landscape and huge mountains make travel across much of New Zealand incredibly difficult and time consuming, but with countless rivers there was an opportunity to shorten journeys drastically. Standard boats weren’t capable of traveling over the shallow rocky areas that most flow over so Bill set out to create something that could manage it. In doing so he opened up much if the country side and jet boats became as useful as helicopters for getting people in and out of the remotest areas. Today Jet boats can travel pretty comfortably in six inches of water, and really gunning it can often get away with closer to three, and while there are obviously a lot of adventure companies that run shirt excursions, this is wanaka, so there’s one in most driveways!!!

Simon and I launched his boat into Lake Wanaka early in the afternoon before heading north up the Makarora, and then West up the Wilkin river. The sun was shining and the air calm as we floated over the clear blue snow melt waters. The speed, power and manoeuvrability of the boat is incredible, turning on a sixpence, and then lurching forward at the slightest touch of the accelerator. As always the area we were in was a vast expanse of space, mountains, rivers and valleys as far as the eye could see and not a person in sight. For a couple of hours we headed up the Wilkin, crossing trout infested pools, and powering over rocky rapids. Always able to see the bottom through the clearest water I’ve ever seen, we could also see the rocks at the bottom, but judging the depth was far harder than you’d imagine, a real problem for jet boaters. While they can travel in three inches of water there is little margin for error, and when it goes wrong, it goes seriously wrong. Beaching the boat is an obvious risk, but can generally be resolved with some brut strength providing you don’t mind getting wet, certain rocks however are capable of splitting the hull in two, hence the name ‘can openers’, and the lack of hull below the water makes flipping the boat a real possibility that has resulted in a number of fatalities.

When we got as far as we could up the river we tied up the boat and got our kit ready (after a cold beer from the cooler). We headed up the Wilkin before veering north where we climbed quickly to followed the Siberia river up its steep valley through its dense Forrest. With snow capped peaks melting in the summer sun there were waterfalls galore and with the local birds were the only noises we could hear. After a few hours we reached the highest altitude of the pass and could see into Siberia valley, a remote wonderland. If we hadn’t had the jet boat it would have taken us a day and half or so to get here. We followed the beautiful stream into the middle of the valley floor before taking a dip to cool off and set up camp. Unfortunately the altitude wasn’t quite enough to prevent sand flies, and they were out to play! Five minutes was enough so we decided to call it and headed for the not too distant hut, my bivvy bag would have to wait for another day.

Once we were fed and watered (and I had carved a spoon having forgotten mine) we stepped out for some hunting. Simon had brought along his bow and arrow - yes bow and arrow - so we set off to track some deer. There were a number of tracks near to the river, but with the relatively busy path running through the middle of the valley it was likely that the deer only ventured out of the thick forrest late at night. We stalked until it got dark but eventually decided to call it quits, unfortunately without letting an arrow fly in anger. We discussed the option of rising early to hunt, it went something like this:

- ‘If we get out about 4am, and position ourselves quietly at the treeline and sit for a couple of hours before first light we might have a chance of seeing one’ - ‘What sort of chance’ - ‘Pretty slim’ - ‘Yeah…. I’m good!’

Shotover Jet, Jet Boating the Shotover River Canyons, Queenstown, New Zealand