Dart River
Te Awa Whakatipu, the braided glacier-fed river above Glenorchy. An old pounamu route, an Isengard filming location, and the one river up here with a jet boat concession.
The Dart runs about 60 km from the Dart Glacier down into the head of Lake Wakatipu at Glenorchy. Most of it lies inside Mount Aspiring National Park and the Te Wāhipounamu World Heritage Area. It is braided and glacier-fed, so the bed is much wider than the water in it, and the colour changes with the season and the rain.
Its official Māori name is Te Awa Whakatipu. The river was one of the ara tawhito, the old trails, and this one led to pounamu — part of the network that linked Whakatipu-wai-Māori, the lake, with Whakatipu Waitai at Martins Bay on the West Coast. Ovens, pits and nohoaka have been found along both this valley and the Rees. The English name came from William Gilbert Rees in the 1860s, for the speed of the current.
On the river
Dart River Adventures, based at 45 Mull Street in Glenorchy and owned by Ngāi Tahu Tourism, runs the jet boat trips up the valley. The two-hour Wilderness Jet is the straightforward one; the full-day Funyaks trip takes the boat up and floats you back down through side streams in an inflatable canoe. They run transfers from Queenstown, which is worth taking — it saves the drive and the 45 minutes back in the dark.
Walking
The Rees-Dart is a four to five day advanced tramp linking this valley to the Rees, with huts at Shelter Rock and Dart Hut. Note that a large slip between Daleys Flat Hut and Chinamans Bluff has closed the Dart side, and the Department of Conservation has it shut until at least December 2026 — the circuit cannot currently be walked. Check the DOC page before committing to anything up here.
The rivers in this valley flood readily, both after rain and through spring and early summer when the snow is going. The footbridge over the upper Snowy Creek is taken out each winter and sometimes not replaced until December.
On screen
The Dart Valley stood in for Isengard, and the forest at Paradise for Lothlórien. Nomad Safaris and Dart River Adventures both run trips to the sites, and the Lord of the Rings page has the wider list. The road bridge over the Dart, 16 km north of Glenorchy, also appears in One Lane Bridge.
Nearby
Glenorchy is the base for all of it. Diamond Lake and Paradise are further up the same road.
More in Rivers
See all
Kawarau River
The river that drains Lake Wakatipu and runs east through the Kawarau Gorge to Cromwell. Where commercial bungy started, and where the rafting runs.
Shotover River
The river the 1862 gold rush was built on, and the one most Queenstown adventure operators still run on. Where to see it, who works it, and what the water does after rain.
Rees River
The braided valley running down to Glenorchy from the Richardson and Forbes mountains. The quieter of the two big valleys above the lake, and the start of the Rees Track.