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New Zealand Government Publicity Office silent, black and white, travelogue featuring extensive inter-titles.
“Tinged with the romantic glamours of gold-rush days, the rugged grandeur of ‘Skippers Gorge’ near New Zealand’s Southern Lakes proves a powerful attraction or visitors.”
“Setting out for ‘Skippers’ high-powered cars make light work of the journey which at one time proved perilous enough.”
Wide shot of two open cars full of passengers approaching the camera, passing in front of a verandah-fronted building.
The cars pass over the Edith Cavell bridge over the Shotover River at Arthurs Point
“Where mountain road-ways junction”
The cars travel along a narrow single-lane unsealed road which curls up a hillside and along the side of the gorge.
“Into the heart of the roaring gorge.” Shots from the car as it progresses along a narrow, rocky road, high above the gorge.
“Swinging the hairpin corners where mild thrills are excusable”
“Rocks and cliffs and weathered slopes”
Wide shot of the two cars approaching the camera.
Medium wide shot from the back of one car of the two following vehicles. Two men and a child are in the front seat of the first vehicle, with a sign “Mt Cook Motor Co. Ltd” above the windshield.
“In the shadow of towering granite walls.”
“Rocky portals that suggest a ‘hold-up’”
Fade to a rear shot of two cars driving between a narrow cleft in the rocks. Pan right to show the cars emerging further along the road and turning a corner between the rocks. [Hell’s Gate or The Cutting?]
“A mediaeval ‘Robber’s roost’ among the crags”
Wides shot of a valley with the cars crawling along the road snaking up the left side of the gorge and a rocky outcrop in the right foreground. A track can be seen on the right hand side of the gorge [The Old Pack Track]
“Inseparably linked with the ‘Good old days’. A stop at the ‘Welcome Home’ hotel.”
Wide shot from a car as it approaches a verandah-fronted building on the left [The Welcome Home hotel]. Two other cars and passengers are in the road in front, with dogs and a child.
“The country beyond proves rough enough for the most venturesome.”
Wide shot looking up the canyon with a bridge in the foreground. The cars crawl down the narrow road towards the camera. Fade to another wide shot of the two cars making their way along the road against a high rock wall.
“A wayside waterfall.”
Wide shot of a waterfall running down a rock face beside the road.
“A ridge crossing, opens up the famous ‘Shotover’ gold fields.”
Shot from the front of the car driving over a rise and the wide shots looking down a valley.
Wide shot of the cars making their way down a hill, now with a dog running between them.
Wide shot of Skippers Canyon and Shotover River.
“The one-time golden river-bed”
Wide shot of the Shotover River
“The sinister overhang of ‘Hangman’s Bluff’”
Two cars, now followed by a rider on horseback, make their way around a corner, towards the camera, with a dry-stone wall edging the road.
“A surprise corner, cheerfully named the ‘Devil’s Elbow’”
A rear shot of the two cars driving away around a narrow bend with a sheer drop below and a rocky cliff face above them. [Pinchers Bluff?]
Shot from a car as it approaches and drives over Skippers Bridge.
“Another old-timer at the end of the run. The historic accommodation house at Skippers”
Wide shot of cars approaching the camera, and stopping in front of two stone buildings, watched by several children and two dogs. The passengers start to get out of the cars.
N.Z. Government Publicity crest