Shotover Jet’s thrilling

Advertising Feature

Fiji & New Zealand Trade

Shotover Jet’s thrilling experience

Shotover Jet Fiji can best be described as Fiji’s most thrilling boat ride.

The experience starts when you climb aboard a “Big Red”: you will feel your heart race and your adrenaline surge as the driver eases from the berth and skims across the water in search of the narrow arms of the Nadi River in the Western side

of Fiji.

The Shotover Jet drivestyle is world famous, and the spectacular Hamilton turn (where the boat spins through 360 degrees in its own length) is the driver’s trademark.

As you blast along the narrow man grove-lined green corridor during your 30minute ride, “Big Red” is drawing in as lit tle as 10 centimetres of water. This allows the driver to get maximum performance out of the custom built boat.

Drivers also have an intimate knowl edge of the history and culture of the area, making a Shotover Jet ride more than a

thrilling experience.

The jetboat is a New Zealand invention, and is designed to operate in as little as 10 centimetres of water. The narrow tidal trib utaries on the Nadi river provide all the right ingredients for classic shallow water jetboating.

All Shotover Jet drivers are profession-

als trained by the company including locals Dennis Robinson and Colin Marriott. To ensure safety, each driver has a minimum of 120 hours behind the wheel of a “big Red” before they carry their first

passenger.

Weather permitting, Shotover Jet Fiji operates 365 days of the year.

In its first 24 months of operation in Nadi, Shotover Jet Fiji has delighted more

The thrill of the ritle

than 40,000 passengers and has been

applauded by the local tourism industry

and government for setting new standards in quality and professionalism.

In November 1995, Shotover Jet won the Fiji Trade and Investment Board’s Exporter of the Year Award in the Services

Category.

Its environmentally-friendly attitude is reflected in Shotover Jet’s use of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) for fuel to protect the waters of the Nadi River.

The safety aspect is extended to life jackets, which are mandatory and supplied by Shotover Jet.

While carrying cameras are welcome during the ride, Shotover Jet subsidiary company Smile Click, take photographs which are available as soon as passengers disembark.

The medium to long-term success of Shotover Jet is based on the on-going development of a harmonious working relationship with the local community.

Apart from the employment created, Shotover Jet Fiji sponsors local sporting events and charity fund-raisers like the annual Heaven to Heaven Triathlon and

Fiji rugby teams.

The company also provides on-going financial assistance through an annual grant to the Ratu Navula Secondary School, which has so far amounted to $40,000.

The Shotover Fiji experience injects a thrilling element into incentive pro grammes for tourism.

As well as catering for casual passen gers whether locals or visitors, the compa ny operates two boats simultaneously pro

viding group hosting capacity.

Shotover Jet is a publiply listed compa ny on the New Zealand Stock Exchange with an objective to establish five off shore operations by the year 2000.

The company also owns Rainbow Springs and Rainbow Farm in Rotorua, Huka Jet in Taupo and the Christchurch

Trammary.

Plans are underway for Shotover Jet Mexico to be up and running by mid-1996.

Judging by the success of its first over seas venture in Fiji, “the world’s most exciting jet boat ride” should be a hit wherever the company decides to venture. ■

An experience to remember