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The resort town of Queenstown is situated in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. The town is built around an inlet on Lake Wakatipu, a long thin "S"-shaped lake, and offers spectacular views of nearby mountains. Queenstown is a turning out to be a popular holiday destination among locals and tourists alike. The Historic Skippers Canyon is located about 25 minutes from Queenstown and is an important sightseeing destination. The Skippers Canyon was abuzz with gold mining activity from the early 1860s till the early 1900's. The canyon in the height of this hectic gold mining activity was inhabited by more than 10000 gold miners. The city at that pint of time had about 30 pubs, one for every mile which was of immense satisfaction for the gold miners. In adventure circles the Skippers Canyon was known as the ‘Skipper Grand Canyon' encompasses an area of about 20 acres and is home to the AJ Hackett bungy, the Pipeline Bungy, Skippers Flying Fox, Winky's Museum, Nomad Safaris, Skippers Canyon Jet and the Pipeline Walkway. The only access in and out of Skippers was the old "Pack Track" until 1902 when the hair-raising single lane road was completed. The entire process was an impressive achievement since large sections of rocks had to be blown through to complete the road which took over 20 years to finish. The Skippers Canyon in Queenstown in recent years has been used as movie locations. Some of scenes from the award winning movie “Lord of the Rings” were shot here. There are some remains of history which can still be found in the Skippers Canyon. The Canyon is home to many a adventure activity such as Helicopter Flights, Whitewater Rafting down the Shotover River, and mountain biking with Gravity Action down the old "Packtrack".
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