It was supposed to rain this morning and clear up for the afternoon but we awoke to partially cloudy skies and mild temperatures. I decided we should take one of the three popular 4×4 trips offered in the area. The one that sounded most intriguing was the trip into Skipper’s Canyon, the site of the gold mining activity in the 1860s. The problem was that articles described it as traversing very narrow dirt roads high above the Shotover River and considered it to be one of the most dangerous roads in the world (https://www.wonderslist.com/10-most-dangerous-roads-in-the-world/). Car insurance companies prohibit normal drivers from using the road.  Hmmmm, how do I break this to Yvonne and convince her to go as she is not fond of heights and sheer drop offs?  Surprisingly she said she was game (I somehow forgot to mention the #7 dangerous road information to her) and we made reservations to take the 4 hour trip leaving at 1:30 PM.

The next order of business was finding a good place in town for breakfast as neither of us wanted to do the hotel breakfast buffet. We walked through town reading menus in windows.  Most were similar. While walking back to one that sounded nice we happened to walk by the Vudu Cafe & Larder restaurant on the waterfront that was packed with people!  That is normally a very good sign so we wandered in and decided this was the place as the menu offerings were both unique and looked great as we passed tables with people enjoying their meals. They gave us menus and after ordering at the counter they delivered our meals to our table. We chose to sit outside at a communal table to enjoy both the weather and the scenery. Our decision to eat here was rewarded with two fabulous dishes (see photos)!

We wandered down a few new streets after breakfast, finding several restaurants (a hamburger/bakery place with a huge line of people waiting to order, and a donut shop featuring filled donuts) both worthy of a future visit. Hopefully we will have enough time here to try them before we have to leave.

We were picked up at 1:30 as promised by Pete, our driver/guide, in his rugged 4×4 vehicle. Luckily there was only one other couple (from Auckland) on the trip so we had room to stretch out and each have a window for unobstructed viewing.

Skipper’s Canyon Road is a one way, one lane 22 km long dirt road that sometimes is 200-300 feet above the canyon and river bottom,  it leads to the area where gold was discovered on the Shotover River in 1862.  The area lays claim to being one of the biggest gold finds in New Zealand. At one time over 1,000 people lived in the area but as with all “gold rushes” the area lost its luster after a few years, although mining continued until the early 1900s. All that remains are a cemetery, the old schoolhouse, some rusting equipment on the riverbank and the tailings on the shoreline of the river.

While traveling the road we occasionally met an oncoming car and had to find a “wide” spot in the road to allow it to safely pass, but other than that we had no problems negotiating the road. The scenery is spectacular but desolate. Pete explained the history of the area and pointed out features related to the mining of gold here. We stopped  at several locations to take in the beauty of the area and take pictures, had a sandwich lunch at the old schoolhouse where we got to see old pictures of life there and even panned for gold on the shore of the river. Pete did find a few “specks” of gold (no nuggets) which he added to his collecting bottle. Over the years he has collected measurable ounces (at $1,400/ ounce). We safely returned to the hotel after our four hour journey into New Zealand gold country. It was a memorable and worthwhile trip, and we can claim to have safely traveled one of the most dangerous roads in the world!