Walk Details

NZ Walking Routes > Otago > Queenstown > Skippers area short walks

Skippers area short walks

Location

From Queenstown, travel along Gorge Road to Arthur’s Point and take the turn-off to Coronet Peak ski field. Off that road, turn left onto the unsealed road signposted to Skippers. From Skippers Saddle, continue on the narrow and winding 13 kilometre Gorge Road to Skippers Bridge and Mount Aurum Recreation Reserve. This is a one-and-a-half- to two-hour drive.

Only experienced drivers should attempt this journey. Because of its challenges, and precipitous drop-offs, this is not a road on which to learn gravel-driving techniques.

Description

Skippers is part of Mount Aurum Recreation Reserve, among the hills and valleys that fed much of Wakatipu’s 1860s gold fever. The reserve was established in 1985 from Mount Aurum Station and annually attracts tens of thousands of visitors wanting to explore the 9,100-hectare reserve, despite the challenges of getting there.

The reserve begins after crossing the historic Skippers suspension bridge. Opened in 1901 it’s the most spectacular of its kind in New Zealand. On the terrace above is a virtual ghost town, the remnants of Skippers Township, once the largest gold settlement on the Shotover River.

Mount Aurum Reserve offers dramatic views and opportunities to walk, tramp, camp, paint, kayak, mountain bike, picnic and raft – you can even bring your dog.

Skippers Point Cemetery (5 mins one way)

Start/finish: follow the road to the left of the information shelter and turn right at the first junction. A silent, stone-fenced record of Skippers’ pioneers that contains 20 headstones and graves.

Johnston’s Otago Hotel (5 mins one way)

Start/finish: Skippers Point Cemetery
Near the cemetery are the stone ruins of Skippers’ only pub, Johnston’s Otago Hotel, the centre of many of Skippers social activities.

Skippers Point School (10 mins one way)

Start/finish: follow the road to the left of the information shelter. The Upper Shotover Public School, later known as Skippers Point School, was open between 1879 and 1927. DOC restored it between 1989 and 1992 and installed interpretation panels. These provide an insight into the school, gold mining and life in Skippers.

Mt Aurum Homestead (10 mins one way)

Start/finish: follow the road to the left of the information shelter. One of only two timber buildings remaining from Skippers’ gold mining era, inside it features information on the homestead and the station.

Pleasant Terrace Historic Walk (30 mins one way)

Start/finish: Skippers Point School. Follow the easy 4WD track across Londonderry then Pleasant Terraces to panels describing the obvious mining and sluicing scars in front of you. Beyond Pleasant Terrace, trampers with some experience can make their way up Stony Creek to the junction with Murphys Creek North and pass more gold mining relics along the way.

The track up Stony Creek is neither marked nor maintained.

Level

Easy

Amenities

• Birds
• Camping
• Historical
• Picnics
• Plant Life
• Toilets

Source

www.doc.govt.nz

Discussion

Start a discussion on this walk