Central Otago Map

When the Clyde Dam was completed in 1992, the valley behind it was flooded to create Lake Dunstan. As a result, the original site of Cromwell's historic business district at the junction of..

Across the Kawarau River from Cromwell on the road to Nevis Valley, the small historic mining town of Bannockburn offers a fascinating journey into the past. Bannockburn was a successful..

In 1887, Saint Bathans was a bustling town with around 2,000 miners living in the immediate vicinity. Some of the buildings from that era remain today and little else has been added since..

Central Otago has an inland climate that provides the high temperature variation on which grapes thrive. Hot summer days end with refreshingly cool evenings, and the long autumns are sunny..

The Nevis Valley was first used as a trail route by Maori people. Early European settlers farmed the valley and in 1862 a Maori farmhand found some gold in the river. Years later..

Alexandra is an attractive oasis of trees and civilisation within the weathered rock landscape of Central Otago. The town boomed during the late 1800s, when huge gold dredges worked the..

Hiking in Central Otago is a rewarding experience in itself, but at the Bendigo goldfields a hike is made even more satisfying by the opportunity to discover gold mining relics. Mining..

The Man-Made Fascination of Clyde Dam and Lake Dunstan. Clyde Dam is the largest concrete gravity dam in New Zealand consisting of one million cubic metres of concrete. It's height is 100m..

This historic town is located at the foot of a river gorge and is surrounded by rounded hills of schist punctuated with large craggy standing rocks. Schist is gold bearing rock and..

Located on the shores of Lake Dunstan, Cromwell has the appearance of a modern town, but its history stretches back to the gold rush days of the 1800s. Cromwell underwent a major..

For 150 scenic kilometres, the Otago Central Rail Trail crosses sub-alpine countryside between Clyde and Middlemarch. The rails, sleepers and loose bedding gravel from the abandoned railway..

Ranfurly was established in 1898 as a railhead for the Central Otago railway line. At the time, the neighbouring gold rush town of Naseby was the main centre of Maniototo, however the..

Roxburgh is located halfway between Dunedin and Queenstown on the banks of the Clutha River. An important centre during the Central Otago goldrush of the 1860s, in more recent times..

Standing in a paddock like a medieval stone relic, the remains of the Teviot Woolshed (erected 1870) look as though they could have been anything from ancient barracks to a factory or..

Alexandra's Old Bridge Piers are a monument to early civil engineering in New Zealand. The Piers are the remains of the original Alexandra Bridge, which was completed in 1882 at a cost of..

On the journey along the Waitaki Valley you'll notice the transition from green pastures to the characteristic dry inland landscape of Central Otago. Snow-capped peaks and beautiful lakes..

Central Otago is a region touched by history, with a powerful landscape of ancient mountains, weathered rock formations, alpine herb fields and fast rivers. In ancient times, Maori..