After a hearty breakfast at Copthorne Hotel Queenstown, we started in a four-wheel-drive minivan. There were around 20 of us; we chose the Skipper’s Canyon as an optional tour, which was not included in the tour package.
We left for Skippers Canyon, a historic and scenic gorge, 22 kilometers in length, formed by glaciers over 25,000 years ago. In the process, loose gravel and ton after ton of precious gold were deposited throughout the canyon. Over the years, the mighty Shotover River flowed from the Southern Alps and created what would be known as the richest gold-bearing river in the world
The canyon and Skippers Point were named after 'Skipper' Malcolm Duncan, who discovered gold in the canyon in 1862. Born in Northern Ireland, Duncan served for many years on American ships, hence the nickname 'Skipper'. As Duncan discovered gold at Skippers Creek, it became known as Skippers Point or simply 'Skippers.'
Skippers Canyon has been the iconic location for some movies. It is actually one of the best-kept secrets that it featured in the first Lord of the Rings movies. And some scenes from Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible 6 were filmed here.
In 1886, Skippers Canyon was also the first site where hydroelectricity was generated to power gold mining
The Shotover was named by William Gilbert Rees, who with his wife Frances and brother-in-law Nicholas was the first European settler in and near Queenstown.
Skippers Canyon is accessed by Skippers Road, which is today one of New Zealand's better-known scenic roads. It is a breathtaking dirt road that circulates around mountains, is mostly a one-way road, and is very narrow and steep with sheer drops of several hundred metres.
It has the dubious distinction of the New Zealand road where rental car insurance is not honored.
From Queenstown we took the road that leads to the Coronet Peak ski field. After enjoying spectacular views over Wakatipu Basin high above the Arrow Basin, Lake Wakatipu, and Queenstown with the Coronet Road below, we started on the skippers road.
We were instructed to put on our seat belts, and the nervous tourists were asked not to sit near the windows and not to look down the sides; this, of course, promptly ignited excitement in our hearts.
As the vehicles are 4WD vans and are expertly driven, we all felt very safe on the mountainous, narrow, and curvy paths/roadside. Our driver was very knowledgeable about the canyon and stopped a lot of times for photos and for us to walk a little where it was safe. He even showed us a beautiful plant known as a Christmas tree.
As we traveled up the road, we came across a narrow part, crowded on both sides by sheer rock, called Hell's Gate.
At the beginning of the gold rush, no track or road was present in Skippers Canyon. As the gold miners traveled through the canyon with their horses, automatic tracks were formed. There were rough and steep but functional ways to Deep Creek, Māori Point, and Skippers in use way back in 1863. Those tracks were extremely unsafe, and those who tried to take pack horses sometimes lost them along with their supplies.
In order to make access to Skippers safer and to bring in heavy machinery for the gold miners, demand for a proper road grew gradually. Skippers Road was surveyed in 1883 to make Skippers Canyon more accessible.
The road was built by 4 contractors who completed their work in stages over the period of seven years. Chinese laborers were mainly used. Many sections of the road remain today very much as they were in 1890.
Costs were exorbitant, and difficulty was felt not only in forming the road but also in maintaining it. The local rock is so soft that under the traffic it quickly turns into dust in dry weather and greasy mud in wet weather. Under these conditions it was natural that initially motor vehicles were banned from driving on Skippers Road.
By the time the gold rush was basically over, some wise people of the Queenstown district saw potential in the use of Skippers Road as a tourist attraction. Petitions supporting the plan that cars could be used to travel on Skippers Road as well as petitions to ban them were signed. The community was thus split into two groups.
The court ruled that Skippers Road could be used by cars, but drivers had to apply for a permit; time limits of usage were defined, and a fine of ten dollars was the penalty if regulations were disregarded.
The first car drove over the road illegally in 1912. Bikes were prohibited until 1896, and motor traffic until 1907. From 1918 a concession was made to allow motor vehicles between 7 pm and 8 am, and this remained right through until 1926.
Today tourism is the road's biggest user, with many people coming to see the road or use it as a means of access to bungy jumping operations or white water rafting. Skippers Road is an iconic New Zealand road of outstanding heritage significance.
It has been protected by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust since 15 December 2006. In 2014 it was labeled by a British driving firm as one of the 22 most dangerous roads in the world to travel.
It took 22 years to carve out an access road using only black gunpowder and hand drills. This was considered to be an engineering miracle, as the road is literally carved out of solid schist rock.
The road encompasses miles of stunning views through twisty hairpin corners, high elevations, and steep grades. As this road is closed to rental cars, access is basically by 4-wheel-drive vehicles.
The road was cut by hand into steep cliffs by early prospectors in their quest for gold.
We found that the road was unbelievably scary, as it was totally narrow and difficult to maneuver the vehicles. It is a gravel road, an unpaved, narrow, winding, and treacherous pathway that twists and turns for about 16 ½ miles through Skippers Canyon.
One particular stretch of the Skippers Road at Pincher's Bluff apparently took 2 years to build, as it required removal of large amounts of rock to create a road platform.
We stopped at the lighthouse rock and took photos of the amazing vistas of the canyon; we then passed the cathedral rock.
Then we went by the long galley; the flat land below Maori Point became the booming settlement of Charlestown. Hotels, butchers, bakers, a post office, a police station, and a bank were established in Charlestown. The population peaked at about 1,000, but by 1864 the easily gained gold had been won, and the population dropped to about 400. All we could see were desolate stones of a fallen chimney, an information board, and a plaque.
We found the remains of the Welcome Home Inn beside the road, at the bottom of Long Gully. A tiny miner's hut sits all on its own, not too far up Long Gully.
The hotel was the first to start in the area and was built in 1863, destroyed by fire, and rebuilt twice. It was finally demolished in 1951.
The Maori point was interesting: In 1862, two Maori miners (Raniera Erihana & Hakaria Maeroa) made it to a secluded gorge in Skippers Canyon, where they saw a promising area across the river and tried to cross; one of their dogs followed and was washed away.
Raniera went to rescue the dog and landed on a small beach. There he found his dog with its coat speckled with gold dust. On searching, he could see particles of gold in the crevices of the rocks and started to dig in the sandy beach.
Both gathered 25 pounds of gold before nightfall. Maori Point was born. Unfortunately, in those days, Maori were not allowed to bank, and the men entrusted a friendly clerk with their booty. The clerk promptly disappeared with his loot, never to be seen again.
We could see the remains of water races and sluicing scars on the plateaus on either side of Stony Creek. Our guide told us that wilding pines are a major problem throughout the South Island's high country, destroying and blotting out iconic native landscapes.
Our guide showed us huge artificially created hillocks of sand formed due to gold search in the water.
They have been tackled on a grand scale in Skippers Canyon. We were told that it would take over 20 years for the trees that aren't felled to topple over and start to break down. I felt sad that the lovely pines were being destroyed.
If one encounters a car driving the other way, one has to back up gingerly until he can find enough room to pass. If two vehicles have to pass each other, one vehicle might have to reverse up to 3 to 5 kilometers on a winding, narrow road to get to a place wide enough to pass.
With sweeping views along the gorge and of the Shotover River below, we had countless photo opportunities at every turn! The road was difficult and surely a nightmare in the wet or dark.
At places we met oncoming traffic on this unsealed, narrow, and twisting road with a vertical drop on one and a vertical rock wall on the other side, which was terrifying.
The scenery was magnificent: dramatic schist bluffs, sheer cliffs, rocky tors, and bronzed tussocks found in all directions. The Richardson Mountains were to the west on the other side of the Shotover River, and the Harris Mountains were to the east.
We passed Deep Creek, where there's a launch area for the jet boats that tour Skippers Canyon.
Then we stopped to view the Pipeline Bungy footbridge; this bungy was once the highest in the world at 102 metres.
There are some basic rules for this road. The road is narrow and prone to slips. Caravans and trailers are not suitable on this road. In winter snow can close the road. Some vehicles are not insured past this point. No turnaround for 6 km.
We then came to one of the most famous sections of this road, the Skippers bridge, 96 m long and 90 m high. The Skippers suspension bridge over the Shotover River is one of the most spectacular bridges in the world, and we were surprised to know that this century-old bridge is still suspended by its 14 original wire ropes.
It was the first bridge that enabled the gold miners to safely reach Skippers Point. The building of this bridge began as early as 1866. It crossed the river only 6 meters above the water and is prone to damage from flooding. It was replaced in 1871 but rebuilt at the same place. The access to this first crossing of the Shotover River was difficult, as approaches to it were very steep on both sides.
In March 1901, the new bridge was officially opened by the Minister of Mines and finally replaced the old one.
In reality, the bridge was built a couple of decades too late. By 1901 miners were leaving Skippers, and the population had fallen to less than 100. The school closed in 1927, and by the 1940s the settlement was abandoned. Local farmers continued to use the bridge, and since 1985 it has provided access to the Mt. Aurum Recreation Reserve, which includes the ruins of the town.
It is today one of the major attractions for visitors to Skippers Canyon, as it spans a gorge with sheer rock faces on both sides and is about 100 metres above the river.
Our guide asked all of us to get down and walk over the bridge to get a feel of it ,it was mighty thrilling.
Shortly after,we reached the saddle at 975 meters above sea level, the highest point of the journey, we had the first spectacular view of Mount Aurum.
At the end of the road we found a perfectly preserved large stone school house, impressive and isolated, some original cottages and a cemetery.
There is no charge for admission, this area was a farm, big one too. At the peak of the gold era there were around 12,000 residents living in the canyon. Today there are less than 12.The school house was filled with interesting small exhibits of what the place was like during the gold rush times as they educated their children. There were numerous artifacts that grabbed our attention and imagination.
I imagined myself teaching young students in the class room and had an eerie feeling
Skippers School has been restored by DOC staff to its original state, and is quite remarkable and interesting to find in an area so remote and isolated.
It's quaint and charming standing as the only structure in that entire mountain.
Honesty of the local people and tourists are to be appreciated as this school is just left unlocked all year round and yet it remains pristine and well-kept
We were very impressed by the setting, quality of the restoration and wonderful information boards that described the history of the area. We were stunned to know that this remote area once had its own cricket team,
Sitting in the School house, and visiting the other neighbouring historic buildings and sites, really took us back and made us wonder what it must have been like to live back then.
A picket and stone fence surrounded the cemetery which contained about 20 headstones and the marked graves of early Skippers residents.
Of more recent times is the delightful inscription on the grave of Lorraine Borrell: "my time is up, I’ve been clocked out. The judge has tapped the gavel. I’ll retire the teapot, lay the knitting down and quietly unravel."
The cemetery overlooked the Skippers Canyon, a fitting resting place for the hardy pioneers of this remote settlement.
After the school closed in 1927, it became a wool shed and then it was left derelict for over 20 years. In 1992 it was restored by the Department of Conservation, inside and out and visitors are free to wander at their leisure.
It was chilly indoors behind the thick stone exterior. I guessed with a fire going on school days, the solid walls would have kept the heat inside, which is just as well because I'm sure there would have also been days when snow lay thick on the ground outside.
Skippers was never a mining town in the popular sense, there wasn't a main street lined with hotels and stores. The settlement was spread out across limited flat ground over two terraces.
The school and Mt Aurum Homestead were on Burkes Terrace along with a few miners cottages but most of the population was located close to their mining claims along the banks of the river and nearby creeks.
By the 1940s the only permanent residents of Skippers were the owners of Mt Aurum Station. The station homestead has now also been restored.
It was very interesting exploring inside both these buildings, with a good number of information panels explaining the dynamics of the settlement, and the hard life and harsh environment that people lived in along the Shotover River.
Winters were especially difficult, with snow and ice lying on the ground for weeks at a time, with no access along the track back to Queenstown.
The furniture, fridge and the cooking range, various utensils and the lovely wallpaper mutely told interesting stories about its inhabitants
Behind the homestead there was a small DOC camp surrounded by very tall dead pines and a warning to watch out in high winds (the wilding pines in this area were sprayed in 2014).
But even farther up the river, there was another property. Branches Station, our guide told us, was home to several brave and daring people who made only occasional trips to Queenstown.
Our next stop was the picnic spot. Our guide had seen to it that both vans were parked side by side and, from the back, had set up two tables, some chairs and called us all for a picnic. We all enjoyed a cup of coffee and tea with kiwi biscuits his wife had made at home, and home-made cheese served on crackers; some had wine too.
We happily sat back and relaxed, looking over the canyon. As it always happens to me, whenever we visit a historical place, I get a dejavu feeling that I had been previously been here before.
All in all, our trip to Skipper’s Canyon left an indelible imprint on our minds.
We left for Skippers Canyon, a historic and scenic gorge, 22 kilometers in length, formed by glaciers over 25,000 years ago. In the process, loose gravel and ton after ton of precious gold were deposited throughout the canyon. Over the years, the mighty Shotover River flowed from the Southern Alps and created what would be known as the richest gold-bearing river in the world
Skippers Canyon has been the iconic location for some movies. It is actually one of the best-kept secrets that it featured in the first Lord of the Rings movies. And some scenes from Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible 6 were filmed here.
In 1886, Skippers Canyon was also the first site where hydroelectricity was generated to power gold mining
The Shotover was named by William Gilbert Rees, who with his wife Frances and brother-in-law Nicholas was the first European settler in and near Queenstown.
Skippers Canyon is accessed by Skippers Road, which is today one of New Zealand's better-known scenic roads. It is a breathtaking dirt road that circulates around mountains, is mostly a one-way road, and is very narrow and steep with sheer drops of several hundred metres.
It has the dubious distinction of the New Zealand road where rental car insurance is not honored.
From Queenstown we took the road that leads to the Coronet Peak ski field. After enjoying spectacular views over Wakatipu Basin high above the Arrow Basin, Lake Wakatipu, and Queenstown with the Coronet Road below, we started on the skippers road.
As the vehicles are 4WD vans and are expertly driven, we all felt very safe on the mountainous, narrow, and curvy paths/roadside. Our driver was very knowledgeable about the canyon and stopped a lot of times for photos and for us to walk a little where it was safe. He even showed us a beautiful plant known as a Christmas tree.
In order to make access to Skippers safer and to bring in heavy machinery for the gold miners, demand for a proper road grew gradually. Skippers Road was surveyed in 1883 to make Skippers Canyon more accessible.
The road was built by 4 contractors who completed their work in stages over the period of seven years. Chinese laborers were mainly used. Many sections of the road remain today very much as they were in 1890.
By the time the gold rush was basically over, some wise people of the Queenstown district saw potential in the use of Skippers Road as a tourist attraction. Petitions supporting the plan that cars could be used to travel on Skippers Road as well as petitions to ban them were signed. The community was thus split into two groups.
The court ruled that Skippers Road could be used by cars, but drivers had to apply for a permit; time limits of usage were defined, and a fine of ten dollars was the penalty if regulations were disregarded.
The first car drove over the road illegally in 1912. Bikes were prohibited until 1896, and motor traffic until 1907. From 1918 a concession was made to allow motor vehicles between 7 pm and 8 am, and this remained right through until 1926.
It has been protected by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust since 15 December 2006. In 2014 it was labeled by a British driving firm as one of the 22 most dangerous roads in the world to travel.
The road encompasses miles of stunning views through twisty hairpin corners, high elevations, and steep grades. As this road is closed to rental cars, access is basically by 4-wheel-drive vehicles.
The road was cut by hand into steep cliffs by early prospectors in their quest for gold.
We found that the road was unbelievably scary, as it was totally narrow and difficult to maneuver the vehicles. It is a gravel road, an unpaved, narrow, winding, and treacherous pathway that twists and turns for about 16 ½ miles through Skippers Canyon.
One particular stretch of the Skippers Road at Pincher's Bluff apparently took 2 years to build, as it required removal of large amounts of rock to create a road platform.
We stopped at the lighthouse rock and took photos of the amazing vistas of the canyon; we then passed the cathedral rock.
We found the remains of the Welcome Home Inn beside the road, at the bottom of Long Gully. A tiny miner's hut sits all on its own, not too far up Long Gully.
The Maori point was interesting: In 1862, two Maori miners (Raniera Erihana & Hakaria Maeroa) made it to a secluded gorge in Skippers Canyon, where they saw a promising area across the river and tried to cross; one of their dogs followed and was washed away.
Raniera went to rescue the dog and landed on a small beach. There he found his dog with its coat speckled with gold dust. On searching, he could see particles of gold in the crevices of the rocks and started to dig in the sandy beach.
Both gathered 25 pounds of gold before nightfall. Maori Point was born. Unfortunately, in those days, Maori were not allowed to bank, and the men entrusted a friendly clerk with their booty. The clerk promptly disappeared with his loot, never to be seen again.
We could see the remains of water races and sluicing scars on the plateaus on either side of Stony Creek. Our guide told us that wilding pines are a major problem throughout the South Island's high country, destroying and blotting out iconic native landscapes.
Our guide showed us huge artificially created hillocks of sand formed due to gold search in the water.
If one encounters a car driving the other way, one has to back up gingerly until he can find enough room to pass. If two vehicles have to pass each other, one vehicle might have to reverse up to 3 to 5 kilometers on a winding, narrow road to get to a place wide enough to pass.
At places we met oncoming traffic on this unsealed, narrow, and twisting road with a vertical drop on one and a vertical rock wall on the other side, which was terrifying.
We passed Deep Creek, where there's a launch area for the jet boats that tour Skippers Canyon.
We then came to one of the most famous sections of this road, the Skippers bridge, 96 m long and 90 m high. The Skippers suspension bridge over the Shotover River is one of the most spectacular bridges in the world, and we were surprised to know that this century-old bridge is still suspended by its 14 original wire ropes.
In March 1901, the new bridge was officially opened by the Minister of Mines and finally replaced the old one.
In reality, the bridge was built a couple of decades too late. By 1901 miners were leaving Skippers, and the population had fallen to less than 100. The school closed in 1927, and by the 1940s the settlement was abandoned. Local farmers continued to use the bridge, and since 1985 it has provided access to the Mt. Aurum Recreation Reserve, which includes the ruins of the town.
It is today one of the major attractions for visitors to Skippers Canyon, as it spans a gorge with sheer rock faces on both sides and is about 100 metres above the river.
Shortly after,we reached the saddle at 975 meters above sea level, the highest point of the journey, we had the first spectacular view of Mount Aurum.
At the end of the road we found a perfectly preserved large stone school house, impressive and isolated, some original cottages and a cemetery.
Skippers School has been restored by DOC staff to its original state, and is quite remarkable and interesting to find in an area so remote and isolated.
Honesty of the local people and tourists are to be appreciated as this school is just left unlocked all year round and yet it remains pristine and well-kept
We were very impressed by the setting, quality of the restoration and wonderful information boards that described the history of the area. We were stunned to know that this remote area once had its own cricket team,
Sitting in the School house, and visiting the other neighbouring historic buildings and sites, really took us back and made us wonder what it must have been like to live back then.
The cemetery overlooked the Skippers Canyon, a fitting resting place for the hardy pioneers of this remote settlement.
After the school closed in 1927, it became a wool shed and then it was left derelict for over 20 years. In 1992 it was restored by the Department of Conservation, inside and out and visitors are free to wander at their leisure.
It was chilly indoors behind the thick stone exterior. I guessed with a fire going on school days, the solid walls would have kept the heat inside, which is just as well because I'm sure there would have also been days when snow lay thick on the ground outside.
The school and Mt Aurum Homestead were on Burkes Terrace along with a few miners cottages but most of the population was located close to their mining claims along the banks of the river and nearby creeks.
By the 1940s the only permanent residents of Skippers were the owners of Mt Aurum Station. The station homestead has now also been restored.
The furniture, fridge and the cooking range, various utensils and the lovely wallpaper mutely told interesting stories about its inhabitants
Behind the homestead there was a small DOC camp surrounded by very tall dead pines and a warning to watch out in high winds (the wilding pines in this area were sprayed in 2014).
But even farther up the river, there was another property. Branches Station, our guide told us, was home to several brave and daring people who made only occasional trips to Queenstown.
Our next stop was the picnic spot. Our guide had seen to it that both vans were parked side by side and, from the back, had set up two tables, some chairs and called us all for a picnic. We all enjoyed a cup of coffee and tea with kiwi biscuits his wife had made at home, and home-made cheese served on crackers; some had wine too.
We happily sat back and relaxed, looking over the canyon. As it always happens to me, whenever we visit a historical place, I get a dejavu feeling that I had been previously been here before.
All in all, our trip to Skipper’s Canyon left an indelible imprint on our minds.
