Today was a day of mixed weather.  Mostly cloudy, but with some sunny breaks, and some occasional light rain.  However, the weather didn’t stop us from our adventures.

We drove up to Glenorchy, which is a little town of about 250 people at the head of Lake Wakatipu at the mouth of the Dart River.  It’s about a 45 minute drive from Queenstown.

The sights along the drive were very similar to those we saw on the way into Queenstown.  However, the drive was not our reason for going to Glenorchy.  Our plan today was to take a jet boat ride up the Dart River into Mt. Aspiring National Park.

There are a number of jet boat operators in the Queenstown area, but we choose Dart River Safaris because they offer the longest ride available.  The total trip was about 3 hours, of which about an hour was a ride through back country roads to visit some remote places where many famous movies were filmed.  The rest of the time was spent racing up and back down the river on an exciting and scenic jet boat ride.

The ride through the country took us through some fabulous scenery, and some very interesting roads.  Even on the main state highways, it’s common for the bridges to be only single lanes.  On the remote roads, it seems to be common for the roads to not have bridges over the rivers at all, and you simply drive through the stream, as shown below.

Once we got on the jet boat, I put my camera away, so I don’t have any photos to show you.  I just didn’t want to risk my new camera equipment on the boat, as the risk of it getting soaked, dropped, bumped or lost was too great.

If you’re ever in New Zealand, this is an activity that is simply not to be missed.  It is worth every penny.  The ride is thrilling as the jet boat speeds up to about 85 km/h along the river, passing within inches of rocks and riverbanks, in as little as 6 inches of water.  Sometimes we scraped bottom, and I’m told they run aground every now and then, as the river is constantly changing as the river rises, falls and shifts course through the valley.  The drivers are very skilled.

And since I couldn’t take my own photos, check out the website of Dart River Safaris to see some photos of what you see along the ride.

Again, if you’re ever in the area, do not miss the jet boat ride, and I thoroughly recommend Dart River Safaris.  The views on the Dart River are stunning, and the ride is simply the longest in the business.

After an exciting day on the river, we then returned to Queenstown for a nice dinner.