Guide

Mount Aspiring National Park by Jet Boat

Mount Aspiring National Park covers 3,500 square kilometres of the Southern Alps between Wānaka and Fiordland. Most visitors see it from a car park at the end of the Matukituki valley road. We take you up the river itself, a 60 km round trip: the only jet boat on the Matukituki, and the only one to the foothills of Mount Aspiring / Tititea.

Why the Matukituki

The Matukituki is a braided, glacier-fed river that drains the eastern side of Mount Aspiring / Tititea (3,033 m). It is too shallow and too fast changing for anything but a jet boat, and we are the only commercial jet boat on it. That means the only other people you will see up there are trampers heading for the huts.

What you will see

• The West Matukituki valley opening up, with Rob Roy Peak and the Rob Roy Glacier hanging above it.
• Avalanche Glacier and, on a clear day, the summit of Mount Aspiring at the head of the valley.
• Braided channels, turquoise pools and gravel flats that change after every flood.
• The wilderness walk: about an hour at an easy pace, through beech forest and along glacier-fed streams into McGills Creek, with your guide covering the geology, the birdlife and the history of the valley stations.
• Waterfalls off the valley walls after rain. The valley is at its most dramatic in mist, see Wānaka on a rainy day.

The trip in numbers

Four hours door to door from the Wānaka i-SITE, a 60 km round trip on the river, about an hour on foot, minimum age 4, life jackets, wet-weather gear and heated handrails supplied. Adult $359, child aged 4 to 14 $229, and a Family+ price of $889 for two adults and two children. More on the trip itself on the Wanaka jet boat and wilderness walk page.

Ages 4 and up, all fitness levels, guided walk and all gear included, free cancellation up to 48 hours before departure.

Book the Jet Boat and Wilderness Walk

Te Wāhipounamu

The park is part of Te Wāhipounamu South West New Zealand World Heritage Area, recognised by UNESCO for its glaciers, forests and the wildlife that survives in them. We operate under strict conditions on numbers, speed and where we land, which is why the trip has looked the same for 20 years. We are a partner of Southern Lakes Sanctuary, and you can read what that means for the valley on our conservation page.

Getting here

Wānaka is an hour from Queenstown via the Crown Range or 90 minutes via Cromwell. Departures are 9:45am and 12:45pm in summer (1 October to 30 April) and 12:45pm in winter. Coming over for the day? See To the foothills of Mt Aspiring and Queenstown to Wānaka. Nothing is charged until you confirm.

Ages 4 and up, all fitness levels, guided walk and all gear included, free cancellation up to 48 hours before departure.

Book the Jet Boat and Wilderness Walk