Serious Fun River Surfing

Jon Imhof, a surfer from Hawaii, came to Queenstown to go snowboarding and he liked Queenstown so much that he decided to stay for summer. Missing the waves of the ocean, he looked for an alternative and came up with the crazy idea to follow the rafters down the Shotover River and surf waves on his bodyboard. Although the rapids were great, he found it was too shallow and decided to go down the Kawarau River instead, and the sport of riversurfing was born.

In 1989, with riversurfing in high demand, Jon established Serious Fun Riversurfing, the original riversurfing company. A few year later, after looking for other suitable locations around the world, he started a sister company on the Zambezi in 1995. A few years after that, some of the African guides took the sport up to the White Nile in Uganda, and to this day, these are the only three places in the world you can go riversurfing!

Because we are licensed to operate on two sections of the river, we can choose between them to make sure we give you the best trip on the river for the conditions. As we have no control over the weather, we cannot promise we will be running a specific section at all times during the season.
Lower water section < 200 cms – Chinese Dog Leg – 8 km Section graded 2-4
Higher water section > 200 cms – Roaring Meg – 6 km Section graded 2-3 – run twice

Please meet us at Serious Fun shop on 39 Camp Street 15 minutes before the trip. We can also pick you up from your Hotel/Backpackers. Please tell your booking agency where you would like to be picked up.

Attractions and Tours river surfing