Shotover River Whitewater Rafting Half-Day Adventure Queenstown

Queenstown, the adventure capital

Queenstown sits on the shore of Lake Whakatipu beneath the jagged Remarkables range, and it has built its reputation as the adventure capital of New Zealand on the rivers, mountains and lakes around it. White-water rafting on the Shotover River is one of the original Queenstown adventures, running since the 1970s, and the half-day format makes it easy to fit in alongside a morning on the lake or an afternoon on the gondola. The trip starts at the rafting centre in the town centre, a short walk from the lakefront and most hotels.

Things to do in Queenstown for thrill-seekers are endless, but the Shotover combines scenery, history and adrenaline better than almost any other. Check-in is 20 minutes before departure with swimwear and a towel; everything else is provided.

Skippers Canyon and the road to the river

Before the rafting comes the coach ride through Skippers Canyon, a deep gorge carved by the Shotover River and famous for the gold rush that brought thousands of miners here in the 1860s. The road was hand-built by those miners along a ledge cut into sheer schist cliffs, and it remains a narrow, unsealed track with no barriers, hundreds of metres above the river, which is why rental car companies forbid their vehicles on it. From the coach you look straight down into the canyon you are about to raft, with abandoned mining terraces and gold-bearing gravel banks far below.

The drive takes about 30 minutes from the rafting base and is an experience in itself; many rafters rate the Skippers Canyon road as the most exciting part of the day before they even reach the water.

The Shotover River

The Shotover rises in the Richardson Mountains and runs through a narrow, rugged gorge before joining the Kawarau River near Queenstown. During the gold rush it was called one of the richest rivers in the world, and the canyon walls still show the scars of the diggings. For rafters it is a river of two halves: the launch at Deep Creek leads into calm, swift water through the upper canyon, with time to practise paddling commands and take in the cliffs, before the lower canyon narrows into a sequence of named rapids graded 3 to 5 depending on the water level.

The rapids change daily with the flow, which is part of the river's character, and the guides read the water and steer accordingly. Expect to get thoroughly wet; the wetsuit and splash jacket keep you warm even when the river runs cold with snowmelt.

The Oxenbridge Tunnel

Near the end of the run the river disappears into the Oxenbridge Tunnel, a 170-metre passage blasted through the rock of the canyon wall in the early twentieth century by two brothers who hoped to divert the river and mine the gold in its exposed bed. The scheme failed, but the tunnel remains, and rafting through its darkness, with the roar of the water echoing off the rock and a bright circle of daylight ahead, is the moment everyone remembers. The tunnel exits directly into Cascade Rapid, the biggest drop of the trip, which carries the raft out into the sunlight.

The tunnel and Cascade Rapid are the finale of the rafting section, which lasts about two hours on the water. Cameras are not allowed on the river for safety, so valuables stay at the base.

The rafting base and the return to Queenstown

The rafting base lies in the Shotover valley a short drive from town. Here you change into your full wetsuit, rafting wear, helmet and life jacket, sign the required waiver and listen to the extensive safety briefing that covers paddling commands, what to do if you fall in and how the guides manage the rapids. After the run the coach brings you back to the base, where hot showers and changing rooms are waiting, before the final transfer to central Queenstown.

The whole trip takes about four and a half hours from check-in to drop-off. Participants must be at least 13 years old, weigh between 40 and 118 kg, be able to swim and have no heart condition; rafters under 16 need a guardian on the trip and under-18s need a guardian's signature on the waiver.