Business South March 2021

14 | TOURISM Oxbow Oxbow offers everything adrenaline Richard Loader Catering for novice to experienced shooters, Oxbow has eight automatic clay bird throwers. N estled in the Gibbston Valley, surround- ed by the beautifully rugged moun- tains of Central Otago, the Nevis Bluff, wineries and breweries; Oxbow Adventure Co. offers visitors an experience of exhilaration absolutely like no other on earth. Taking jet boating to the next level, Oxbow’s four-seater jet sprint boats accelerate from 0 – 100kph in 2.5 seconds, taking passengers on a 10 minute thrill packed ride navigating five islands at top speed round a purpose built lake. “There’s nothing else like it — it’s the fastest four-seater ride on the water in the world,” says General Manager Darb Richmond. “The jet sprinters are as fast as a formula one car, pulling 3 – 4Gs around corners. It’s very exciting stuff; when people get out of the boat they’re normally speechless.” Complementing the jet sprint boating expe- rience is the absolute ultimate in off-roading with custom built 4-wheel drive/ 4-wheel steer/4-seater all terrain vehicles capable of going literally anywhere, though not for the faint hearted. “A lot of people look at the off-roaders and think they’ve done it all before, but they get off these things and just say ‘far-out — that really is next level’.” Clay Bird Shooting is the third main activity currently offered by the team at Oxbow Ad- venture Co. Catering for novice to experienced shooters, Oxbow has eight automatic clay bird throwers and can have six shooters at a time. “People can come and do one, two or three activities. We also have knife throwing and hole-in-one golf for our corporate groups to keep people busy in between the main activ- ities. We do corporate groups, work groups, families and we also cater for FITs (Free Inde- pendent Travellers) which we’re doing plenty of at the moment.” With its origins going back to 2012 and a Wanaka operation established by Darb and his wife Hails on property owned by Hails parents, Lloyd and Julz Ferguson, given the significant opportunities presented in Queens- town Oxbow Adventure Co. made the decision to relocate operations. Closing the Wanaka operation in 2017, Ox- bow Adventure Co. leased 50 hectares of land on Mount Rosa Station. “We had to find a flat site so we could create a jet sprint lake track on it. We had to have wa- ter coming through to keep the pond full and it had to have some steep country to operate the off-roaders. With the clay bird shooting and machinery operating we didn’t want too many neighbours. “If you look behind us it goes into the steep rocky central terrain, but you don’t see the beautiful crystal clear lake until you pull into the car park. Being right on the main highway into Queenstown was the key.” Opening early October 2020, Oxbow Adven- ture Co. caught the end of the school holidays and also benefited from a busier November/ December than expected with many local companies hosting their Christmas parties there. With borders closed many corporates also chose the adventure company to enter- tain their clients. “We’ve had a fantastic response from our visitors with people raving about it which is awesome. We’ve been really impressed with the response from the domestic market. “It’s been so pleasing to see how many peo- ple in New Zealand are getting out there and doing these things in their own back yard.” Two Bearded Men Creative Studio 027 8234 514 | toby@twobeardedmen.com www.twobeardedmen.com The team at Central Lakes Engineering are proud to support Oxbow and wish them all the best with their venture - Structural steel fabrication & installation - Stainless & aluminium work - Balustrades & handrails - Full machine shop facility - Architectural metalwork - Farm & earthmoving machinery repairs & maintenance - Stairs & staircases A: 38 Gordon Road, Wanaka, 9305 P: 03 443 6007 M: 021 289 0443 E: info@centrallakesengineering.nz