Skipper's Canyon

Hey Everyone,

I wanted to tell you a tale of something I did the night before picking Andrea up at the Queenstown airport. I wanted to test the van/bed out for the first time and save some money I would have spent staying in a hostel (sharing it with at least three other people). I looked at the Department of Conservation (DOC) brochure to find an interesting camping ground I could use in the Queenstown area and I came across the Skipper's Canyon camp ground, which is listed as being 17km away from Queenstown. I thought that it sounded perfect.

After work on April 31st, I drove to Queenstown, ate dinner at @Thai, the restraint (which was very very good, by the way), and saw Alice in Wonderland (I should mention that that movie is NOT worthy of that Title), and around 10:00 pm, I set out to find this camping ground. I drove up the mountain towards Cornet Peak and eventually found Skipper's Canyon Road, which is a dirt road. Not too far in, I was greeted by this sign:
The wooden, painted man next to the sign was kind of scary at night because it looked like a real person until I got closer to it. For those who can't read the sign on the tiny picture, allow me to quote it for you:

• Historic Skipper's 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 turn around for 6km
• NO EXIT

My van is 4WD and it isn't insured so I had no problem continuing. The dirt road was very very bumpy with a lot of ups and downs. I had no idea what I got myself into because it was completely dark. I ended up driving for at least an hour (getting pretty anxious along the way) before I finally reached a suitable place to stop and sleep.

This is what it looked like. I was the only person there, completely isolated. I don't think it was my ultimate destination because the brochure said it had a toilet, which this place did not have. Who knows how much further it would have been to get to the camping ground.That structure in the picture just held some displays about the history of the area– lots of gold mining around there; no toilet. No problem.

I left at about 8:00am, I think, and was able to take a bunch of beautiful pictures of Skipper's Canyon along the way. It was pretty funny considering I had driven past all of this the night before without having any idea of the beauty I was missing. Why is it that you have to get up at the earliest time possible to take the most beautiful pictures?

Here's a cool one-lane bridge that is part of the road.

Now that it is approaching fall, the sun is staying to the north and so there are longer, more frequent shadows cast on the landscape.

These two chimneys are all that remain of an old hotel called The Welcome Home Hotel. The hotel was family owned between 1908 to 1942 and was frequented by minors, tourists, and shepherds that passed by on their way to Queenstown. When I passed by this in the dark, the night before, I thought they were grave stones and it was really eerie.

I guess in New Zealand, sheep just materialize out of nowhere and graze. They must be able to travel between dimensions. They might be radioactive too, so don't touch them! While driving at night, there was no one else on the road, which is what you want when you're driving on a treacherous one-lane road. That day, as it got later, I was met by caravans of tour buses and trucks on an increasing basis. Just beyond this picture, I had to back up and let 6 rafting buses through.

I survived! Yay! Then my tire popped several days later. I'm very glad it waited until after the remote scary road.

The End