All Black Dan Carter yesterday helped Kawarau Jet celebrate its 50th-anniversary celebrations in Queenstown.
Kawarau Jet sales and marketing manager Melinee Kong-Pearce said yesterday's "end of summer" event was the first of many planned for 2010, commemorating the world's first commercial jet-boating operation, started by the Melhop brothers in 1960.
About 200 industry representatives mingled at the Novotel Queenstown Lakeside and were treated to a jet-boating display on Queenstown Bay, before Carter stepped from one of the boats.
Mrs Kong-Pearce said the company wanted a high-profile New Zealander to be the guest of honour and Carter's name sprang to mind.
His primary job was to draw the winner of a trip to Thailand, valued at $4000, which was the grand prize in a sales incentive Kawarau Jet had been running during the summer.
Kawarau Jet director Andrew Brinsley said last night was "the first round" of celebrations the company would have over the year. "It's primarily an agencies function, to acknowledge their support and contributions to helping Kawarau Jet make this milestone," he said.
One operator who received special mention last night was Debbie Borja, of Lakeview Holiday Park, in recognition of the "massive effort" she had put in in the past two months.
After starting out with one boat, the company now had eight high-efficiency, powerful, twin-engine design jet-boats, and carried about 65,000 passengers per year, operating 365 days and peaking midsummer, after Boxing Day.
The company started when the Melhop brothers, Alan and Harold - whose Invercargill engineering company was an agency for the revolutionary Hamilton jet-boats - took paying passengers for a ride to raise funds for the Lakeland Christian Camp at Kelvin Heights.
The Melhops, trustees of the camp, soon found holidaymakers were lining up for rides on the thrilling new boat, and, at five shillings a go, the trip provided efficient fundraising for the camp.
In 1959, the brothers convinced the Christian camp trust to invest in the operation by buying its own Hamilton Jet-for 1200 - and so began one of Queenstown's most successful and enduring tourist operations.
