Georg and Arnulf go on a day trip to Milford Sound, I book a jetboat trip in an old gold mining canyon in the mountains north of Queenstown. First we go up to the ski resorts, then on a gold rush gravel track through spectacular high mountain scenery. Next to the track you can see the footpaths of the gold miners of 1862. T
he gold rush only lasted 7 years, then it was all over. The 7km long track was completed after 7 years at the end of the gold rush. Huge amounts of equipment were hauled up the steep slopes. If it wasn’t lost on the way, crashed during transport or washed away by the first tidal wave after 2 weeks of use, every piece was still for nothing after 3 years at the latest. Gold. Everyone does everything for it.
Even today, there are still some fortune hunters here. The Kiwi gold diggers look like gold diggers would have looked 150 years ago. Their jeeps may not whinny, but if sunglasses had been around back then, these would have been the ones.
Whenever we meet one of the gold diggers, the tension rises. The track is narrow, the gorge deep. When manoeuvring, the wheels are only centimetres away from the abyss.
After an hour on this hellish track, we arrive in a remote high valley at Skipper Canyon. This is exactly where the gold rush started. Even today, a few old gold miners’ huts still stand around in solitude.
The waiting jetboats roar along the river below. Everyone gets their rain jacket and life jacket, then off we go. My first jetboat ride. Nice, fast, wet, narrow, exciting, loud. What else… a few bridges, old gold diggers, rafters, bright sunshine and turquoise blue water. Alex: one of the pictures on this page is Lord of the Rings. Tell me which one, and the scene :-)
Around five we drive back to Queenstown. I’m pretty exhausted. Try to sleep, can’t. Got a headache. Look over at Georg and Arnulf in the other hostel. Enjoy the sunset from the garden of my new hostel overlooking the lake. Start making plans for my last three weeks in New Zealand.
Frank Woelky, born in 1973. Kitesurfer since 1998. Since 2006, I have been combining kitesurfing and web design on trips lasting several months off the beaten track.