Lake Wanaka to Shotover Jet @ Queenstown
Wanaka means “Renewal of Soul” as in Maori culture. Had I been consulted, I would have named as Rejuvenation of the Soul. 😛
Wanaka sits at the Southern end of Lake Wanaka in the otago region. Lake Wanaka is the 4th biggest lake which measures 300 meters of depth at one place. Weird. Eerie, scary. But the lake wears a superb charm that no one should miss. Lake Wanaka in fact isolates the Mount Burke (almost making it an island) along with Lake Hawea on the other end. However, Lake Wanaka is visible only after reaching Wanaka if road has been used. This is the gateway to the Mount Aspiring national park which has all the most famous ‘sounds’ in it.
Though the town and the surroundings are very beautiful, it’s not much of tourist crowded area as it lacks specific attractions. During winter, it gets plenty of adventurers to its icy mountains. In summer, few test their mental strengths by skydiving. Queenstown steals the majority of the skydiving share.
Giving these situations, I should have kept Queenstown as the base. However, the previous day drive from Franz Josef to Wanaka gave enough driving for the day. Hence, I had my reservations at Panorama Court. This is the cheapest hotel I stayed in those 9 glorious days of New Zealand. However, this is the best I should say. I had been given with a complete house on the first floor which was luxurious. It had kitchen, a very big hall, a lake facing – glass walled bedroom. I would have happily stayed in that house forever, happily.
Next morning, I woke up and for a change; it was not early morning wake-up in the entire vacation. Our only target for the day was to reach Te-Anau. It seems I never wanted to be relaxed when I was in New Zealand. I had filled Shotover Jet plan (near Queenstown) on the way to Te Anau and had booked the Glow warm tour to keep the day tight and utilized. 😉
We had a superb breakfast in the town (hardly few restaurants – so easy to find the restaurant at the corner that serves breakfast). I ordered pancake and orange juice while she opted for I-forgot-that thing. While typing this, am still drooling for that taste. We got nice, thick, fluffy blueberry pancakes. It tasted so good with butter and maple syrup. If we are going to Wanaka again, we are going there again!.
I was bit comfortable with my driving after driving almost the complete stretch of the southern island. Still was scared to drive from Wanaka to Queenstown thorough Crown range (Cardrona mountain road) . People have warned a lot in the forums. But trust me; I drove all the way, without even worried a bit. Its beautiful, not-that-dangerous road.
Those who are still not confident, can take a longer road which is less scenic via Highway number 6 which passes through Luggate, Queensberry, Mount Pisa, Cromwell, Kawararu gorge and Gibbston. People said that if you take this route, you can see those daring hearts that are ready to jump the never ending 8 seconds at Kawarau river bridges. We missed it.
We started from Cardrona Valley road which locked the road both the sides with its hills. Mount Barker was a loner but hardly noticeable from this part of the road. It was rainy between drizzling to the pour. Sky looked totally dead with Ash colours. Past this Crown range road which elevates us to the dizzying heights in no time and the only safeguards in place between your car and the valley are those metal fences. I believe they are really good. 😀 However, if we drive at the moderate speed, still you can afford to look away from the road periodically for lovely green valleys that has the depth ranges of more than KM. It has got some pleasant lookouts (viewpoints). However, as it was drizzling and windy, she was less interested to get out of the car often for my requests. This road at one point reaches more than 1100 meters about sea level.
I learned that the roads were sealed very recently. Right after these steep hairpin bends, the sight of the plain feasts our eyes. However, road to that plain, is even steeper downwards. Somehow managed to pass through those obstacles. As we were heading to the Kawarau Shotover Jet, we had to go to Arthur’s point which is hardly 7 Kms from Queenstown. However, my GPS calculated a shortcut scenic road off the highway and made us to take a right turn to Arrowtown where no right turn available. I had to drive couple Kms in forward and reverse to get to the arrowtown road which is obviously the fault of out-dated GPS maps.
However, road to Arrow town is pleasant by all means. It passes through Centennial Avenue and then reaches Arrowtown. After that one need to pass through Malaghans road which connects Arthur point after crossing the Shotover river. Right there the old rusty looking bridge (Edith Cavell Bridge) is visible and thats the base of the shotover Jet.
Shotover Jet
We were supposed to have an extreme speed boat experience near Lake Taupo in the north island itself. As you knew, alternate plans took effect which wiped all the north Island plans. Still we were lucky enough to get the experience at Shotover river.
This boat is one of the marvels of technological achievements. Every one of this boat possess some 520 BHP V6 engines and capable of forcing 760 litters of water per second through its nozzles. These numbers may sounds that of a normal Ferrari (or a Lamb), but have you tried testing them in the waters? 😛 Best part was these machines are happy if the water level is around 10cms. yes – its just 10 centimetres!. And happy to reach the speeds of 85 KMPH at that water level. We faced it to endorse here.. 😀
After collecting tickets, we had to get down all the way to the river which felt like a downhill walk on stairs. After that we were briefed a little and given long jackets to protect from the fierce water droplets and rain. It was raining too, but hardly noticeable. We got into the boat (or lemme call brutal-machine, will be happy to call), and then the pure torture of pleasure started.
I havent tried my hands on any of the super cars (yet). But the machine was a real pure feeling of on one except the feeling that you dont drive it. Shotover river doesnt hold much of a water as its a canyon river which did its ravaging work 1000s of years ago and being a good kid these days. This part of the river is full of rocks and cliffs. A simple touch of the boat to any of those rocks can easily fly you off the boat for atleast 10 meters or worst, it can throw you right at the rock. However, thank God, those pilots (as they call), were extremely talented, good. They drive at that speed with the teasing of kissing those rocks here and there. And then there goes the mother of all, spins. Imagine the boat is going at crazy speed and all of a sudden a U turn which makes the machine to spin like craziest for few seconds. Thrilling at its best.
Rain tried to tear the skin as the machine was trying to catch the every single drop of them. Finally after couple of round trips, it ended. We were really happy to be out of that boat.. 😛
Download Shotover Jet slides here
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