Crystal Battery Track: Skippers area, Otago region

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Introduction

Retrace the miners’ daily walk from their homes in Skippers to the Crystal Mine, their workplace in the 1930s and 40s.

Walking and tramping

2 hr
Intermediate: Great Walk/Easier tramping track

Dog access

Dogs on a leash only. Other pets on conservation land rules.

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Description

Start and finish: Behind Skippers Cemetery

Retrace the miners’ daily walk from their homes in Skippers to the Crystal Mine, their workplace in the 1930s and 40s.

A zigzag journey, Crystal Hut passes the Leviathan Mine’s remains. Scattered relics of the quartz stamping battery lie in the creek bed and the aerial tramway can be traced 200 m to the blocked Crystal Mine entrance above you.

Like many mines, Crystal showed early promise but proved disappointing.

Crystal Hut

This is a basic four-bunk hut in the Queenstown/Wakatipu area.

Category: Basic/bivvies

Facilities: 4 bunk beds, heating, mattresses, toilets - non-flush, water from tap - not treated, boil before use

Bookings not required - first come, first served

Getting there

From Queenstown, travel along Gorge Road to Arthur’s Point and take the turn-off to Coronet Peak ski field. Off that road, turn left onto the unsealed road signposted to Skippers. From Skippers Saddle, continue on the narrow and winding 13 km Gorge Road to Skippers Bridge and Mount Aurum Recreation Reserve.

Know before you go

It is a one-and-a-half- to two-hour drive to Skippers. Only experienced drivers should attempt this journey. Because of its challenges, and precipitous drop-offs, this is not a road on which to learn gravel-driving techniques.

During high winds small-sized branches are falling out of dead trees within the densely forested pine stands in Mount Aurum Recreation Reserve. Avoid areas of dead trees during high winds.

Crystal Battery Track