New Zealanders like their adventure fast-paced and thrill-filled. In Queenstown, on the South Island, paragliders swish off Bob’s Peak, bungee jumpers bounce on the end of wide rubber bands while jet boaters zoom through narrow river canyons.

But, the adventure in Wanaka, approximately 75 miles northwest of Queenstown, is more my style. Here, Wanaka River Journeys offers an eco-journey combining culture, history and just enough speed to make the trip on the Matukituki River feel like a theme park thrill ride.

The tour departs from the center of Wanaka’s business district for the 20-minute drive along a meandering country road to the boat’s location. Views of sheep grazing and sparkling lake water provide a peaceful prelude to the day’s adventure.

When I step onto the flat-bottom boat, driver and Maori guide, Brent Pihama looks at me through wrap-around sunglasses that hug his face and says, "You’ll want to take off your hat."

I take a seat, buckle the straps of a life vest across my chest and place the straw hat between my knees. When the boat’s motor roars to life, Pihama guides the watercraft across the Matukituki River as wind blasts through my hair with a force that would have blown my hat halfway across New Zealand.

Pihama revs the motor again. On a pre-arranged signal, he holds his hand high, and, like the rest of my travel mates, I grab the bar in front of me with a tight grip. Water sprays overhead when the jet boat executes a sharp 360-degree turn, coming to an abrupt stop.

Developed in the 1960’s to access the shallow glacier-fed rivers of New Zealand, jet boats don’t have propellers. Instead, water squirts out at high speeds just below the surface at the back of the boat, allowing the craft to travel in water just a few inches deep and resulting in a unique way of stopping.

With a twist of the wheel, Pihama turns the jet boat upriver. Skimming over the shallow surface, he picks a line through a river braided with silted, glacial run-off. The boat veers towards the left-hand shore then swerves back across to the other side. The zigzag path up the Matukituki River scoots by isolated sheep and cattle stations. Mountains rise up on either side of a valley carved 20,000 years ago by glacial retreat.

Pihama holds up his hand, then maneuvers another 360 turn to a stop. Far ahead, Mt Aspiring (9,932 ft) looms. Clouds hover, parting now and then for teasing glimpses of Avalanche Glacier. The entire area is part of Te Wahipounamu, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Farther upstream, the boat twirls to another stop. For the next 40 minutes, Pihama leads the group on a nature walk through native bush that includes a gurgling mountain stream and a forest of tall beech trees, as he shares tales of the Maori culture.

Soon, the boat zooms back down the Matukituki ending in a vigorous spin underneath the West Wanaka Bridge. If this were an amusement park thrill ride, I’d be standing in line to go again.