Queenstown: Skippers Canyon Private Photography Tour

+13

Queenstown: Skippers Canyon Private Photography Tour

Name: Queenstown: Skippers Canyon Private Photography Tour
Address: New Zealand

Tours Nature & adventure Guided tours Art Sightseeing Hidden gems Photography tours Private tours

Embark on a photography tour of Skippers Canyon. An adventure for landscape photography enthusiasts. Your guide, a local photographer will guide you through spectacular and majestic landscapes.

Our Top Experiences and Tours in Queenstown:

If youʻre booking your trip to Queenstown last minute, we have you covered. Below are some of the top tours and experiences!

View All Experiences

Highlights

5 hours exploring the wild and remote Skippers Canyon
Get expert guidance and support, ensuring you capture the perfect shots
All levels of photography and all types of camera catered for
See the Shotover River, the Lighthouse, and Castle Rock
Pickup & drop-off from your hotel/accommodation included

Description

Journey with us into wild and remote Skippers Canyon. We'll take you on a photographic adventure into some of New Zealand's most spectacular and majestic landscapes and a ride through a window into the region's colorful gold mining past. This tour is perfect for photography enthusiasts, from beginners to the more advanced. Your guide will bring alive the history and the stories of this rugged region. Whatever your level of proficiency, your guide will help you find inspirational vantage points and subjects and then work with you, giving you compositional tips and tricks, showing you the camera settings you need to compose amazing images. We pick you up from your accommodation in or close to Queenstown in a comfortable AWD. A short drive takes us from the downtown bustle through rolling rural countryside to Skippers Saddle, high up on the road to the Coronet Peak ski field. This is the beginning of a 22km dirt road, hewn over a hundred and thirty years ago through mountains and backcountry to reach the rich gold deposits of the Shotover River. The one-lane road winds above precipitous valleys, past fantastic, sculptural landmarks and far-flung mountain vistas to reach and then follow the crystal blue Shotover River as it winds through its own spectacular ravine. Along the way, we encounter aptly named waypoints like Hell's Gate, Bus Scratch Corner, and Pincher's Bluff. Around every corner, awe-inspiring features such as Gorilla Rock, the Lighthouse, and Castle Rock. Every bend in the road brings a view of distant ranges and snow-capped peaks. At the halfway point, we descend to a riverside beach, the launching point for jet boats and rafting tours and an opportunity experience the Shotover's blue glacial waters. The landscape opens now revealing massive glacial terraces, so flat and sharp-edged they look almost man made. Here we see how gold miners massively changed the landscape with their sluicing and dredging practices. Our guide will show you where to look: a copse of trees, the site of a village, rusting steel pipes bringing water to sluicing guns, a Chinese miner's shack, all being taken back by nature. Toward the end of the road, we cross a wooden suspension bridge, spanning a 70-meter ravine. Just wide enough for one vehicle, it is a fantastic example of the tenacity and drive of the people who came first to this region. Finally, we climb through a ghostly stretch of pine forest to reach Skippers Schoolhouse, the last intact building of the settlement that stood here for some sixty years. The lovingly restored building contains a collection of photographs capturing the stories, the characters, and the experience of life in those hard times. This is the perfect place for a refreshment stop, with coffee, tea, and cookies to replenish us for the drive back to Queenstown. Our return journey gives us an opportunity to capture favorite spots in a different light or from another angle.

Includes

Pick-up and drop-off at accommodation Guided photography tour Expert photography tuition Refreshments (coffee, tea, cookies, freshly-baked muffins) AWD transportation Personalized guidance and support

Important Information

Wear comfortable and warm clothing suitable for the weather conditions Bring your camera and any photography equipment you need Be prepared for a bumpy ride on a dirt road Be prepared for walking in various terrains The tour is a private tour for you and your group, so it is flexible and can be tailored to your interests. We generally discuss where we will go at the beginning of the tour.