Day 17 Day visit to Arrowtown
I planned for today to visit the gold settlement of
Arrowtown. I actually left pretty early in the morning and was ontime for the
bus I wanted to catch although the driver did something I did not expect. He
asked the connecting bus to Arrowtown to wait for me and I thought that it was
excellent. Their scan cards are pretty good as well and you do not need to scan
them again when you get off the bus only when you enter. I was up bright and
early as I said and actually had around an hour before the museum opened and I
knew where some of the other locations I wanted to visit were. The town of
Arrowtown, built on the Arrow river was at one stage one of the towns in the
area important for the gold rush. After the gold ran out the town went back to
being pastoralists. There is another town in the hills that is now a ghost
town, but historic anyway and is called Mace Town. You can walk or drive up to
it, although recommended you take camping gear with you.
The bakery for a pie and a coffee as I wanted one was my
first stop in town. My plan was the cemetery and then to the Chinese
settlement. On the way to the cemetery, I had seen the war memorial on a hill
and I was wondering how I get up to that hill as it was very steep. Turns out
there was a back way next to the local kindy, which is across the road from the
cemetery. The view into the mountains were really nice especially early in the
morning as the sun was warm. The war memorial had been built right on the edge
too and you would not be happy to fall down the hill. I wandered through the
cemetery and found I still had time before the museum opened and walked to the
Chinee settlement. This place was where the Chinese lived when the gold rush
was on in the area. There were mixed feelings at the time as well. Several of
the buildings were repiicas of what they would have looked like and there were
some ruins as well. Several of the Chinese did stay in the area long after the
gold rush had ended and one after he died was actually buried with full honours
by the locals. The four denominations in town carried his coffin as he was well
respected. The settlement shows you how the Chinese lived in their little community
making their living.
By the time I walked the settlement, the museum was open and
ready for business. I knew that it would cost some money to enter and part of
the museum building was actually the original bank building. The museum was
mainly about the origins of the area through Maori myth and legends. They did
tell of the beginnings of Queenstown and how it was a farm before the town
grew. Two men in the employ of the farmer found gold and they couldn’t keep it
quiet and that started the whole original rush. Other parts of the museum showed the various modes that were used to
cross the water including the various bridges including one that was not
constructed very well. Down stairs showed you the various ways of getting gold
from panning to the sluicing machines. Stories included some of the characters
who worked the claims and several of the robberies. A common myth was that gold
had fallen through the floor boards in the bank. This was not actually true,
but it had been stored under the bank. I did watch some school kids being
harassed by a school mistress as they were acting out the time period in the
1880s New Zealand. I was actually laughing at them though while watching on.
Later I heard that some of them were sick as they had caught a bug.
Later after wandering the museum, I hired a pan and garden
shovel to try my hand at panning for gold. There were several things that I
thought was gold, but was not. I wasn’t really sure what I was looking for as I
did see some slivers of silver rocks that were small. I might just have gone,
rock, another rock and so on. I spent nearly two hours doing this in various
locations along the river. I asked if there was any areas where I was not
allowed. The answer was no, anywhere you want to try your luck. Supposedly
there is still little bits of gold found. I never found any, although if I had
I would not have known regardless. After my time gold mining, I went looking
for the old goal and after a while and reading the map wrong, I found another
historic place. This was Australia’s Saint Mary’s house. She had only stayed in
Arrowtown for only a month.
By this time it was time for me to head back to Queenstown,
where I would have to pack for the following day and my trip to Dunedin. I was
a little worried about the weather as I could see the clouds rolling in down
the hills. It was spitting when I wandered into the Frankton cemetery, although
I never knew the area to have so many vehicles just driving around at just
after 5pm in the afternoon. It was a little bit crazy, but then again I did get
some nice pics of the clouds. It never rained until after I had gotten back and
had gone for a shower. I only knew about the rain when I went to dinner. I had
thought about the Ice bar and that is $20 entry without a drink. Something I
will leave for next time is a boat trip on the lake. It has been such a long
day and I had been on my feet for nearly the entire time. The gold panning I
never sat down for and the only times I really rested was when I stopped for
coffee twice and waiting for the bus.
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