Gold fever in Arrowtown
The Arrowtown gold rush is not over.
In 1862, when rich mineral seams were first discovered in Arrow River, thousands flocked to the new settlement. Within a year, 1500 miners called Arrowtown home. They were pioneers.
Cut to 2018 and the miners’ cottages have been restored by local holiday-goers and commercial accommodation providers, the streets and footpaths lined with locally-hewn rock. The pioneering days are over, alleyways now filled with boutique shops, galleries and top-notch restaurants. There’s even a cinema.
Down at the river, minutes from the town centre, there’s activity. During a new year trip around Otago with my partner, Josie, we found dozens of locals and tourists panning for gold in the black sand and rocky edges of Arrow River.
Inappropriately clothed foreigners clambered down to the water with hired gold pans and shovels, ditching their shopping bags on the rocks. Under the scorching January sun, shoes came off and children paddled in shallow pools, their parents perhaps looking to pay off their gourmet meals with foraged gold.
More adventurous prospectors were found further upstream. A group of young European lads, still in their white Fila leather shoes, stood in the water scooping up rocks and sand before heading to the shores to pan for treasure.
A Queenstown local set up camp for the day on a river island nearby, seeking refuge from the foreigners and fair-weather panners. He was uneasy about sharing his name.
‘‘I don’t get down here nearly as much as I would like to,’’ he said, adjusting his metal river sluice sorting the rocks from the sand.
‘‘What with kids and work, it’s hard to find the time.’’
He came down during winter once. The river was frozen at the edges, a good few centimetres thick. On this particular day, he found some flour gold (ultra-fine specks) but little else.
‘‘You do find the little bits, I found some flour gold today, but it’s tough to make anything out of it,’’ he said.
Gold fever is contagious. We were soon staring at our feet watching the water literally sparkle around our feet. Our eyes caught bland rocks – could there be a nugget in that one over there? Let’s keep walking up the river, just in case.
A few shiny rocks in our pockets, we wandered back. A place more pleasant than Arrowtown would be hard to find on a warm January evening. Bars and fine food can be found down most alleyways that slice up the town. We made our way back to our tent at the holiday park, under the high canopy of trees planted by miners nostalgic for English avenues. Gold was on our mind, phones busily Googling where to buy a pan.
"Inappropriately clothed foreigners clambered down to the water with hired gold pans and shovels, ditching their shopping bags on the rocks."