Shotover River Rafting

Half the story here is the road in. The bus up Skippers Canyon is a piece of Queenstown history in its own right, a gold-miners' track cut into the gorge wall, and it drops you at the put-in with the Shotover already moving underneath you. Then you raft it. The Shotover is Queenstown's rowdy river — wild, untamed water through a steep schist gorge, with your guide calling the lines. The finish is the part everyone talks about: the raft goes into the 170-metre Oxenbridge Tunnel, blasted through solid rock by gold miners trying to divert the river, and you run it in the dark before shooting the drop into Cascade Rapid at the far end. Everything you need is provided — wetsuit, life jacket, spray jacket, booties and helmet — along with a safety briefing and professional guides, and there are hot showers waiting at the end. Courtesy coach transfers run from a central meeting point in town. Allow about five hours door to door.