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Trips continued
Central Otago
It’s quite feasible to do a day-return trip from Waipori Falls Village
exploring the closer parts of Central Otago – which is a memorable
experience driving through endless rolling plains of tussock grassland and
old colonial towns that might make you feel you’re in the wild west!
The towns of Lawrence, Alexandra, Clyde, Cromwell, Roxburgh, Middlemarch and
Ranfurly make up central Otago. Locals and tourists flock to Alexandra
during the summer to enjoy New Zealand's hottest place, while Cromwell rests
in the Upper Clutha valley and is home to orchards and vineyards – perfect
for a relaxing stop on your way to Queenstown.
Nestled
at the foot of the Cromwell Gorge, Clyde offers plenty to see and do,
including tours to local orchards, vineyards and farms, or simply enjoy some
of the town’s many historic sights. Just one hour's drive from Dunedin,
Middlemarch is renowned for the Otago Central Railway line that began in
1879.
 Exploring the remote roadways via Outram and Middlemarch, one comes across
spectacular rocky outcrops that resemble prehistoric dinosaurs brooding over
the
valleys below. The best way to enjoy a day out in this area is to
accompany Wayne and Trish in their 4x4 – they will even treat you to a
picnic lunch and overwhelm you with local information and Maori hospitality!
From Waipori Falls Village the way to reach Central Otago though Lawrence is
via the gravel road that winds out of the gorge in which the village is
situated. At Lawrence one rejoins the fast tarred road towards Roxburgh,
Alexandra and eventually Queenstown. Travelling along the gravel road to
Lawrence, Joanne wrote: “We trailed across land filled with green
fields and fat woolly sheep alternated with pine forests and aloes and then
vast areas of ‘nothing’; we continued on past a
 sheep station, through vast
open country that was turning brown because of the sun. On and on it went
and without any sign of humanity. All of a sudden we rounded a corner and
there in front was a wide green valley and Lawrence sitting at the bottom!”
Lawrence was the home of the man who wrote the New Zealand anthem, and
visiting the museum there with its exhibits that recall the old gold mining
days is a must. The museum has records of all the people buried in the old
Waipori Cemetery – many more than are apparent from the actual gravestones!
Beyond Lawrence towards Alexandra one drives through large fruit-growing
areas and, of course, the wine growing area, all the way to Queenstown.
The following are
places of interest between Lawrence and Alexandra
The Lonely Graves
 The
Lonely Graves, located at the Horseshoe Bend Diggings on the banks
of the Clutha River north of Beaumont and south of Roxburgh, consist
of the graves of 'Somebody's Darling' and William Rigney.
(This is
on the Millennium Track, a beautiful drive best accessed from
Beaumont, or further inland from Millers Flat. Quite important with
Central Otago’s hot summers, this gravel road is shaded by riverside
willows for most of its length – so it is attractive for picnickers
and mountain bikers.).
The story goes (a popular myth, not thought to be a fact) that late
in 1864, William Rigney found a shivering dog beside the dead body
of a good-looking young man. The police were notified but nobody
came to claim the body. Rigney dug the grave and everyone at the
diggings attended the funeral. The pine slab with these words burned
on: "Somebody's Darling Lies Buried Here" marks the grave. When
Rigney died in 1912, he was buried alongside as he had wished. His
stone was engraved: "Here lies William Rigney, the man who buried
Somebody's Darling." The graves feature in Billy Connolly’s TV
series, “Billy Connolly’s World Tour of New Zealand”, in which Billy
Connolly accepts the romantic legend, described evocatively in the
following piece by Dr Garrett Evans:
Somebody’s
Darling
by Garrett Evans
Year’s ago, a young man came out to New Zealand with his dog –
seeking some adventure and his fortune on the goldfields. The
trip out by sailing ship was the better part of a rough three
months then. He survived that but died of exposure while walking
to the goldfields from Dunedin – a long hike in open country.
A farmer
found him dead. He buried him and took over his dog. No one
claimed the body so he put on the grave marker ‘Somebody’s
Darling.’ Years later when the dog died it was buried there too.
And finally, the farmer made arrangements, and at his own death
joined the two of them.
It’s a
beautiful and isolated spot – he could easily have done a good
deal worse. There are some who might find in the whole business
a certain amount of beauty
The Millennium
Track on the way to the Lonely Graves |
Gorge Creek
 About 23km north of
Roxburgh there is a monument commemorating the many unknown miners who
perished in the winter snowstorms and floods of July and August 1863.
Fantastic rock formations are to be seen here, and the remains of a stone
building built into the rock face where some of the miners lived and
sheltered. Further up the creek above the road, is the site of the former
settlement of Chamonix, named after the French alpine resort.
Mitchell’s Cottage at
Fruitlands
 During the mining period 1870-1910 a settlement was known as Bald Hill Flat.
It was named Fruitlands from an orchard scheme there between 1915-1926.
Nearby Symes Road leads 1km to the historic 1880s Mitchell’s Cottage – built
by Andrew Mitchell
who settled there from the Shetlands in Scotland.
The story goes that
Mitchell sent to Scotland for a wife who, having taken up his offer, came
out to Central Otego having never before met her future husband. The
Mitchells lived in a corrugated iron cottage when they first arrived in the
area. This sturdy and compact stone cottage is a superb example of the
Shetland Island stonemasons’ craft.
A Shetland Islander, Andrew arrived in Central Otago via the Victorian
goldfields about 125 years ago, having also spent some time mining in the
Wakatipu.  What was remarkable about Andrew Mitchell was his incredible
skill with stone. His cottage is a work of art, meticulously constructed,
built by a man who clearly valued high craftsmanship. It seems that he spent
about 20 years building his cottage, stone by hand-carried stone, while his
increasingly large family lived in a tin shack nearby. The rock in the
garden has itself been carved into garden furniture! Certainly, the cottage,
now a tourist attraction, is well worth a visit.
Stewart Island
Day return trips from
Waipori Falls Village
Central Otago
Stewart Island
Lakes & Mountains |
