FIFTY years of innovation, tourism history and success is on display at Queenstown International Airport as Queenstown’s iconic Shotover Jet boat reaches a landmark 50 years.
On display in the domestic arrivals area is an original Hamilton Jet boat – makers of Shotover Jet boats in the early years.
Laden with history and a powerful reminder of just how much technology has improved over the decades, the Hamilton Jet 30 features a red fibreglass hull #109 moulded in Hamilton Jet’s’ Christchurch factory with a timber deck.
It left the factory on Christmas Eve 1963 and went straight into service over the busy Christmas and New Year holidays, registered as ‘Red hull Queenstown taxi’ by the pioneering Melhop brothers, Harold and Alan.
Hamilton Jet built 188 of these boats between 1960 and 1972, powered by a 170 horsepower Ford Falcon engine coupled to a Hamilton Single Stage Colorado Jet Unit.
While widely admired for its power and maneuverability at the time, this pumped 220 litres of water a second through the jet unit compared to the 740 litres per second of Shotover Jet’s current boats.
In 1965 this boat was transferred to Shotover Jet Services -- also owned by the Melhops -- and so started the era of Shotover Jet.
“We’re thrilled to have one of these early boats as it represents a piece of early New Zealand tourism history,” said Ngāi Tahu Tourism Southern Regional Manager David Kennedy.
“We’re even more delighted to have it on display at the airport for two months for everyone to admire.”
As well as the Jet 30, another display sits in the international arrivals hall, where a small replica Shotover Jet ‘buggy’ sits on rocks in front of a famous Shotover River canyon image.
Visitors are being encouraged to sit in the buggy and take their own photos.
In November 2015 Shotover Jet will become the first jet boat operator in the world to reach a milestone 50 years’ of continuous operation.
It started operations on the upper Shotover River in 1965 and was one of the experiences that helped put New Zealand on the global tourism map.
An original adventure tourism operator, not only is Shotover Jet still going, it’s still growing -- last year carrying over 140,000 people from around the world.
