I've had a thrill packed afternoon enjoying a 2-hour Jet Boat ride on the Dart River. We first travelled 44kms northeast of Queenstown to the township of Glenorchy (Only 300 inhabitants) and the marina for the Dart River Adventure Jet Boats.
The Dart River empties into Lake Wakatipu. The same lake that Queenstown overlooks and shown in the photo I sent from outside the Restaurant yesterday. I went back to the same Restaurant tonight and was greeted by almost everyone on the service team. I had Crispy Akaroa Salmon on a coconut sauce. I have not yet posted about my visit to Akaroa yet which occurred last Sunday. Akaroa is on the Banks Peninsular about 70kms southwest of Christchurch. We went to see Hector's Dolphins but you will have to wait to see if we spotted any! What we did see is the Akaroa Salmon Fish Farms that provided my meal this evening.
Sorry a bit of an aside. Let's get back to jet boating. These are fast – very fast – flat bottomed boats driven by a powerful water jet. They originated in New Zealand and are deigned to travel in very shallow river systems. They have no propellers or rudders and are steered by rotating the water jet nozzle. For the scientifically minded amongst my readers the boats are powered by a big engine that sucks water into and rotates an Archimedes Screw which then forces it at high pressure out of the stern of the boat. They can travel in water of less than 4 inches, are very manoeuvrable and can reach speeds of 80kms/hr - and we did!!
At this time of year, the river levels are very low. The Dart River like many on South Island are described as Braided. If you think of braiding hair, then water flows down channels that cross each other making complex patterns. The skill of the Jet Boat Driver is finding channels that have just sufficient water to allow the boat to pass.
Over 2 hours we travelled over 35kms up the Dart River to the point where it became too shallow to go further. It was an exciting ride a combination of the Dodgems and Formula 1 on water!! Unfortunately, I can't show you the video I took of a boat doing a '360' i.e. turning the whole boat on its axis – with high G forces - that creates copious amounts of spray and guess where that landed!!
The landscape of the river is mind blowing. In the far background of one of the photos you can see the snow-covered peaks at the start of the Southern Alps. In the other photo you can see a mountain on the right with two flat topped peaks, this was the mountain used in the filming of Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit
Well folks it's nearly 9.30pm and I have a 6.00am start tomorrow when we take a very scenic drive over to Milford Sound, for or a late morning cruise before driving further south to Te Anau. From Tomorrow 21st March we will be 'off-grid' so to speak and there will be no internet and very patchy mobile reception until next Monday or Tuesday so no posts in the interim.
Have a good weekend.
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