Mt. Aspiring National Park and Dart River

So, after my day of jetboating, I went for a more serene jetboating trip (if those words can be used together) up the Dart River, into Mt. Aspiring National Park, a beautiful park full of beech trees, snow capped mountains, glacial blue-green rivers, white rock beds and the set for many movies including Lord of the Rings (Isengard and something else), Willow, Vertical Limit, and currently the set of the sequel to the Chronicles of Narnia (we saw the trailers and trucks). We began with the jet boat up the river, skidding along, needing only 4 inches of water to operate when planing, which is just about what we got in some of the wider points of the rocky river. Our driver did take us by some close rocks and trees, but this was a more scenic trip than the previous one, allowing me to take a few pictures along the way. We passed through miles of untouched forests, learned about the names and history of the park (many of the mountains are named after Greek and Roman gods), and ended up 17 km up the river. At this point, we jumped out, joined our new guides and proceeded to pump up our inflatable kayaks. As a single traveller, I was afraid that I'd get stuck with some random tourist that would tip our boat and go on and on with some inane chatter, but I was lucky to be paired with the guide, meaning that I'd have little or no paddling to do on the trip. In addition to going downstream, we had a bit of wind behind us, so steering was most of what needed to be done other than a few rapids that required paddling, and I was fine with relaxing and enjoying the superb scenery. Earlier, it looked like the rain was coming, but it held off for the day and provided some nice clouds for the pictures, so that worked out well.

We kayaked down the river, shouting directions to a few of the tourists that decided not to listen to the instructions and laughing at the English couple that fell out of their boat. We then pulled up to a small fork in the river, where we pulled the boats upstream to an incredible area with a slot canyon with white walls about 30 feet high that looked amazing in stark contrast to the blue water. We paddled into the canyon, took a quick break, then we turned around and headed back towards the white pebble beach for a great lunch buffet. Since the guides were going to have to carry all of the leftovers back, I helped them out by having two huge sandwiches, each with four types of meat, toppings, sauce, etc along with a dessert of a few oranges, some pineapple, watermelon, kiwi fruit and a bunch of pastries.

We headed back down the river after lunch, and we passed through an area called Chinaman's Bluff. Apparently during the 1800s, the Chinese were treated as 4th class citizens here in New Zealand (no, I don't know what the other classes were), so the Europeans told them that there was a lot of gold in that area, just to get them out of the town. Later on, still passing through the beautiful park, we ended up right where the set for Narnia was stationed, where we met our shuttle bus for the ride back. Just a few minutes from the pickup point, we passed through a tiny area called Paradise, for obvious reasons. A much more relaxing activity for the day, I was really glad that I did decide to fork over the money for this adventure, though I figured that I might have the courage and money for one more activity the next day in Queenstown...

(The mountains and lake at the start of our jetboat trip)

(Kayaking through the narrow canyon)

(Another view along the water of the typical Mt. Aspiring scenery)

(Is that a mountain man kayaking along??? Nope, it's just me and my sweet beard. Yes, it's pathetic and I think about shaving it every day, but it's also quite a novelty for me.)

(Beautiful kayaking and fairly clear skies as we float down the river)