There’s a reason why Queenstown is known as the adventure capital of the world. There’s much more to do than just skydiving and bungy jumping. One of the newer activities in recent years is the Canyon Fox and Canyon Swings over the Shotover river. Both are extreme swing like rides that will get your heart pumping. Described as the “most awesome-est life changing experience you’ve been looking for” and “the home of the F bomb”, these extreme swings are arguably even scarier than skydiving and bungy jumping. Are these swings really that cool?
Verdict: Although I haven’t tried it myself, the Canyon Swing is arguably even scarier than bungy jumping – especially with the various different ways to jump. The Canyon Fox is more mild and more like a zip line ride rather than a top end extreme activity.
Bucket list rating: 5/5
Cost: 4/5
Canyon Fox
After my skydiving and bungy adventures, I was literally ready for anything and scared of nothing. So I set my sights on the biggest swings in Queenstown. I eventually booked the Canyon Fox experience. To come clean on this one, Canyon Fox was actually my third choice. I was actually hoping to book either the Nevis Swing (operated by AJ Hackett) or the Canyon Swing, but disappointingly neither were available.
Upon arriving at the Shotover Canyon Swing & Fox office in Queenstown, I was weighed on a scale and taken on a short shuttle ride to a parking space besides the Shotover river canyon. After hiking on the fox trail for another 15 minutes with the bus driver and other participants, I finally arrived at the swing.
The Canyon Fox swing basically consists of two parts. The first part, being the more exciting, consists of a drop from 182 meters high onto a 240 meter long cable that takes you across the canyon. There are various in ways in which you could jump off for the drop, as I’ll mention below. The second part is just a zip-line back across to the starting point from the other side of the canyon.
What worried me most actually was the operational safety of the Canyon Fox. While there were teams of people for AJ Hackett bungys and swings, there were only two people operating the Canyon Fox and the whole set up seemed hastily built. The bus driver even unfunnily joked that their safety record has been impeccable so far, because they’ve only been in operation for two years. Scary.
But this is New Zealand after all. I do trust the safety and regulatory standards here. The marketing brochure also indicates that the Canyon Fox cables are strong enough to hang a 20 tonne truck or 266 averagely weighted people. So I channeled my inner confidence.
Anyway, the jump itself turned out to be quite fun. There is a menu of different ways to jump. The sideways shimmy, where a crane drops you off with your side facing the canyon (rated least scary). The straight off, where a crane drops you off directly facing the canyon (rated medium scary). The reverse forwards, where a crane drops you off with your back facing the canyon (rated medium scary). The chicken run and giant strides, in which you run off the ledge instead of the crane dropping you off (rated most scary).
I personally did the reverse forwards. It was pretty exciting as I didn’t know when the crane was going to drop me down. My only complaint here is that the drop is quite a short one – only around two to three seconds. Then immediately you’re swung all the way to the other side of the canyon at speed. The feeling there is phenomenal as you look across the canyon and no wonder people scream and shout here.
Personally, the scariest bit was when you reached the other end. The staff had to slowly reel you in, which takes around a couple of minutes or so. In the meantime, you’re dangling on the cable still swaying back and forth wildly, constantly worrying that you will be falling into the canyon.
The zipride return is pretty standard and nothing too fancy.
While the Canyon Fox was fun, it certainly wasn’t as scary or exciting (delete as appropriate) as what I see with the Nevis Swing or Canyon Swing. The fun part, i.e. the drop, was only 2-3 seconds long. Also, as of writing, the video system wasn’t up in place yet. As such, you only get photos rather than a video. However, I cheekily had one of the spectators at the side to video me – which you can see below.
Canyon Swing
While I didn’t get a chance to try out the Canyon Swing, I can write a bit about it as it was right next to the Canyon Fox. I also had the chance to speak with a couple of people that did the swing and watched some blooper videos of the swing. It was absolutely mental.
With the Canyon Swing, you are perched on top of a 109 meter cliff looking down at the Shotover canyon. You then drop a vertical freefall of 60 meters against a steep rocky cliff face (almost like a bungy jump) before swinging 200 meters across the canyon. You then get slowly raised back up to the jumping platform. There is a tandem jump option should you wish to drag your partner along!
There are a number of jump stylesyou can choose from. The ones I’ve seen most are the cutaway and the chair jump. With the cutaway jump, you’re suspended on a rope which the staff will cut off. It sounds easy and simple right? From what I’ve heard, the staff makes it even more entertaining for you by cutting off the rope slowly or wait until it breaks to build up all the tension. Similarly, for the chair jump, the staff also try to build up the tension by pretending to push you off or even just dropping the chair as a false alarm!
Speaking to others, this experience is perhaps even scarier than bungy jumping. With the bungy, you’re feet is tied up tight so you do feel quite secure. With the Canyon Swing, you’re really just hanging onto a cable, so your body actually feels much more loose. Meaning that you feel the impact of the fall much more!
Additional information
| When to do it? | Anytime |
| How to book? | Purchase with Shotover Canyon Swing and Canyon Fox online or at their shop in Queenstown |
| How much does it cost? | There are different packages, so please check the Shotover Canyon Swing and Canyon Fox website. Some of the prices are listed below. Canyon Fox and Swing – NZD299Canyon Swing – NZD229Canyon Fox – NZD169 |
| How to get there? | Shuttle from the Shotover Canyon Swing and Canyon Fox shop. |
| How long does it take? | Around 4 hours in total including traveling time. |
| Is it difficult/safe? | As I understand it from the staff, no accidents in the past two years of operations . |
| What to wear? | Closed ended shoe. |
| Language | Guides will speak English. |