Faith and I have done some pretty cool things over the years, many of which happened on holiday. Here's one that has really stuck in my mind for a few reasons: The exhilaration, speed and sheer fun of it! Keep scrolling to take a look at some images and the video.
Shotover Jet is located not far out of Queenstown, New Zealand. It's set in a picturesque valley on the Shotover River. People don't come here for the views though, they come here for a leisurely jet boat ride at 90kph only a metre away from the canyon walls. Ok, it's not very leisurely at all.
There's a visitor centre with a shop and cafe however we were keen to head straight down to where the action is, pictured above. You can see the little red hut above which is where adventure-seekers get dressed for the occasion. It's actually a trailer on wheels so they can wheel it away in times of flood.
Here they issue big rain coats and life jackets - Mandatory for safety, and of course, to stay dry. Note at the top of the mountain at the middle of the shot, the last little bit of snow. It was still pretty cold though.
Thrill-seekers process through here, get geared up then head into line (always bloody lines) and wait for their boat to arrive. It doesn't take long, it's all very smoothly run. This is when one starts to get excited as boats are racing up and down, doing 360 degree spins and generally being awesome only metres away. The sound of their engines, the smell of fuel...And the sounds of people's screams...Like I said, exciting.
Once aboard the driver, a specialist jet-boat-pilot, gives a briefing and explains some of his hand signals also cautioning people to hang on. Basically a finger raised above his head means a 360 degree spin is coming up and then boom it happens. It's pretty violent, but a load of fun.
The driver heads off up river a ways, at great speed, then heads back down and does a spin right in front of the dock...This is where they snapped the picture you see above. (All the others I took myself). You can see me in the second last row on the extreme right, my mother in-law next to me and Faith next to her. Note the camera fore and aft on the boat; This is what they record the video with. See those hand rails in the boat? Trust me, you'll need it...And the cool thing warm thing is that it's heated. Once wet, and at speed, hands get cold...Thanks heated hand rail, you kept us toasty warm.
These are specially-designed and constructed boats engineered to run in very shallow water and close to objects at very high speed. They are called jet boats because that's exactly what they are. Their marine-grade heavy-gauge aluminium hulls are designed for strength and manoeuvrability and they're powered by twin 350 Mercruiser V8's generating 700 horsepower. They are loud, and very fast!
This picture looks like I'm in mortal danger of getting hit, but I jumped out the way at the last second. OK, not really, I was safe the whole time. It demonstrates how these boats can operate in shallow water though. They only need ten centimetres of water to run in! That's four inches of water). The twin V8's operate two Hamilton 212 Jet units which provide the propulsion and steering. These units thrust 760 litres of water per second through the jets which is what makes these boats so damned fast and manoeuvrable. The water is sucked up from underneath the hull the sent out through the jets.
Once that boat-photo above is snapped the ride really begins. They turn around and head under that bridge above into the canyon complex. They get right into it offering a few proper scares straight up. They drive right at the canyon walls turning at the last instant only to head over the other side to do the same...It goes on and on...At great speed. They come as close as one metre away from the rock face and massive boulders and keep the hammer down the whole way.
Here's one of the boats coming back up river after its run. Each run goes for twenty five minutes and I'd guess that at least twenty minutes of that is at high speed, close to rocks or doing 360 degree spins. The rest is when they stop to chat a little bit about the boat, the driver-training, the river and to answer questions.
Here's a photo I took from an observation platform right next to the bridge. It shows the beginning of the canyon (this boat is going up river back to the pier.) The canyon gets really narrow in places and then opens up into quite wide areas which you will see on the video; That's where they do the spins.
This shot is from the same place as above, but looking back up river. You can see the little check-in hut and the pier in the distance...Plus a few next-victims heading down for their ride.
The jet boat ride doesn't come cheap though. They also have a height limit of one metre. Here you see Faith easily making the limit at 6ft tall (1.82 metres tall). She's grinning but I don't know why...That's expensive! Here's the cool thing though...The second ride, if taken quickly after the first, within an hour or so I think, is only $19 each...So, yep, G-dog and Faith went twice! Two rides for $89NZD each...It's worth it!
The ride itself is so much fun, but is pretty hard on the back to be honest. The boat slams hard over every bit of that river and the body takes a bit of pounding. If you have a bad back, heart problems or are pregnant it's not advisable. We sat up the front with the driver on the second run and you can see where we are on the first so we got to experience it from both positions which are totally different experiences. I'd recommend doing that if you can.
Also, dress warmly as at that speed it gets very cold. Of course this depends on the time of year. We were there 8th October so it was quite cold at about 12°C ambient, despite the forecast being for 17°C, and when doing 90kph the wind chill was pretty full on.
We purchased our tickets online to avoid queue's and it's a simple matter of presenting them, picking up the red buff you see us wearing, and heading down to the check-in hut. After our second run we grabbed a coffee in the cafe, watched a few more runs then said goodbye.
Below is the video of our run. They basically shoot some video on the run, then splice it into some stock footage to show the the run at it's best with some personal touch included. It's available by download (a DVD is more costly). The video only goes for 3:50 and really shows what the run is all about. You'll also spot us in the boat with our buffs pulled up.
Queenstown is called the adventure capital of New Zealand and it earns that name. This is just one of the activities one can engage in, and I can recommend it for those looking for a little adrenaline-inducing action!
I hope you've enjoyed your tag-along experience. It's not as good as the real thing of course, however maybe you can make it to Queenstown someday and will head over to Shotover Jet Boats for a ride of your own.
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