In the hills behind Queenstown was the richest of the Otago Goldfields and today the most visited, not only for its dramatic landscape, scenery and historic romance but also as an adventure playground: bungy jumping, rafting and jetboating. Today, Skippers is normally reached in a 4WD vehicle by the spectacular Skippers Road to the 1901 Skippers Suspension Bridge.

Gold was first discovered in the Skippers in 1862, and by March 1865 there was a population of 245 people at Skippers. It is thought that at the height of mining in the upper Shotover area there may have been as many as 1500 people in the whole area. Today, only three buildings survive. Two have recently been restored, the 1867 Mt Aurum Station Homestead and the 1879 Skippers School,

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