Otago Attractions
The Otago region, which is bounded on the north by the wide Waitaki River and on the south by Catlins Forest Park, takes in a green and often mist-shrouded coast, in which the chief towns are Balclutha in the south, Dunedin in the center and Oamaru in the north.
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Kawarau River
White-water enthusiasts will find plenty of scope on the Kawarau River, whether in kayaks, rubber dinghies or jet boats. The supreme experience for the daring, however, is a bungee jump from the Kawarau Bridge.
Balclutha, New Zealand
Balclutha, the commercial center of a prosperous sheep-farming area, lies 80km southwest of Dunedin on Highway 1, on the lower course of the mighty River Clutha. The river divides into two arms, enclosing the fertile island of Inchclutha. The Gaelic name of Balclutha (town on the River Clutha or Clyde) points to the Scottish origins of the first European settlers here.
Blue Lake
The Blue Lake occupies a great trench excavated in the search for gold, 800m long, 50m across and over 50m deep. The deep blue color of the water is clouded only by the inflow of surface water.
Otago Goldfields Park
The Department of Conservation looks after the widely scattered remains of gold mines and gold-miners' settlements in Otago. Information is available from DoC offices in Alexandra, Queenstown and Dunedin.
River Clutha
In the past the River Clutha and many of its tributaries were rich in alluvial gold. Around the turn of the 19th C. almost 200 dredgers gouged out the bed of the river, leaving the huge spoil heaps still visible today.
In 1878 Otago suffered a hard winter with an abundance of snow, and with the thaw there was severe flooding in the Clutha Valley. As a result the southern arm of the river changed its course and Port Molyneux lost its harbor.
In 1878 Otago suffered a hard winter with an abundance of snow, and with the thaw there was severe flooding in the Clutha Valley. As a result the southern arm of the river changed its course and Port Molyneux lost its harbor.
St Bathans, New Zealand
60km northeast of Alexandra, at the foot of the Dunstan Range, is St Bathans, another gold-miners' town that has lost its one-time importance. Of its once numerous hotels there remains only the Vulcan Hotel (1869). Other old buildings are St Alban's Church (1882; Anglican), St Patrick's Church (1892; RC), and the rather showy post office with the postmaster's house.
