Skippers Canyon

Skippers Canyon is the gorge the Shotover River cut north of Queenstown, and it is the least casual trip in the district. The road in is narrow, unsealed and cut into the cliff face, with long drops and few places to pass.

Most rental car agreements exclude Skippers Road. Check your contract before you plan a self-drive day. If the road is excluded and you drive it anyway, you are uninsured for whatever happens next. Going in with a local 4WD operator is the sensible choice, and you get the history along with the driving.

Why it is there

Thomas Arthur and Harry Redfern found gold in the Shotover in 1862, and the river turned out to be one of the richest in the country. The rush that followed filled Queenstown and emptied it again when the gold ran down. Skippers is where the hardest of that work happened — the settlement, the workings and the road itself all date from it. The road was hand-cut through the schist, which is why it is the width it is.

On screen

Parts of the Ford of Bruinen sequence in The Fellowship of the Ring were filmed in the canyon. It is one of the locations where going with a driver who knows the road is worth the money.

How to see it

A guided 4WD tour. The straightforward option, and the one the road suits.
A jet boat. Skippers Canyon Jet runs on the Shotover through the canyon itself.
Self-drive, only if your vehicle contract allows it and conditions are good. Check before you leave town.

Before you go

There is nothing up there — no fuel, no shop, and phone coverage is patchy at best. Take water and a warm layer whatever the forecast in town says, and tell someone where you are going. The road can close, and in winter it closes often. See Queenstown weather for what the seasons do.