From Queenstown, the center of the Southern Lakes region in western Otago, it was just a 20-minute drive to Arrowtown, a historic gold-mining town famous for its preserved 1800s architecture and unique boutiques.
Just before entering Arrowtown, the charming St. John's Wakatipu Community Church caught our attention.
A block up the street was the equally charming St. Paul's Anglican Church Parish of Wakatipu. Built between 1869 and 1871, it seats from 70 to 90 people at Sunday services.
It was just happenstance that when we planned to explore Arrowtown, its Autumn Festival was taking place then. How lucky were we!
As you may know from previous posts or because we're longtime friends, I have a sweet tooth. The Arrowtown Bakery on the corner of Buckingham, the main street, had the most delicious sweets, including divine chocolate caramel bars that instantly became my must-have dessert! I liked the first one so much that I went back shortly afterward for a few more, so I could treat myself to one each day before leaving New Zealand. If anyone has a recipe, please pass it on - thank you!
Buckingham Street was so inviting that it looked like it was begging us to meander down both sides and explore further.
The WoolPress Shop had an exquisite collection of finely woven blankets and luxurious clothing, priced to match!
The former General Store was now the town's pharmacy.
I couldn't help but smile when I saw the Canada Goose sign, as it reminded me of a shop in my hometown of Ottawa that sells lovely Inuit carvings.
The historic Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall was a special events venue for concerts, theatre productions, and local musical societies.
With its striking red barn doors, the historic Coachman's Hall was a pedestrian thoroughfare linking Buckingham Street to Ramshaw Lane, housing a unique collection of local boutiques, artist studios, and a grocer.
When the Post and Telegraph office, known as the second-oldest operating post office in the country, was built in 1915, it replaced the original post office, which had sat on an adjacent site. A distinctive feature was the red Edwardian pillar post box situated directly outside the entrance
Being a huge knitter for close to 60 years, I was immediately drawn to the crocheted decorations that adorned benches, posts, and far more we later discovered around town.
A fw minutes later, I began chatting with Colleen, the local woman who had organized a group of knitters and crocheters to provide local color for the festival. It had been a first-time endeavor, but she said the planners had already received so much positive feedback that the decorations would be repeated next year.
The Mary Cotter tree was planted in 1867. Across the street, the historic Lakes District Museum building incorporated three historic structures, including the former Bank of New Zealand building, which opened in 1875.
At the end of the street, before it widened onto a tree-lined avenue, stood the Arrowtown Library, built in 1984. I liked how its design blended seamlessly with the town's historic architecture.
We then began heading up Buckingham's opposite side until we reached the sweet Romans Cottage. Originally two separate cottages, it was built in 1870 and joined to Romans, the local butcher, in 1910.
The first owner of the nearby Owens Building, circa 1878, was Richard Owens. McSkimming, the local baker, and his family moved in in 1905, before selling it to the Adams family, also bakers, in 1930. They lived there until 1978, when the building was eventually restored by the Arrowtown Trust.
Next door, the Granny Jones Cottage was built between 1883 and 1885 and was inhabited by the extended Jones family until 2000, when it was purchased by the Queenstown Lake District Council. It was restored by the Arrowtown Trust.
The Fork and Tap, a historic pub and restaurant, was housed within a historic 1870s building.
Around the corner stood the historic Arrow Kilwinning Masonic Lodge, designed by architect George Brown and used by Freemasons for meetings since its completion in 1888. Constructed from local stone, it featured a classical façade typical of New Zealand gold-rush towns.
We soon encountered Colleen lovingly straightening up some of the yarn creations!
The Lakes District Museum was housed in part in a former Bank of New Zealand building dating from 1875.
The next building of interest, a grocery store, was built in 1898 and replaced the 1870 store, which had burned down in 1895. The first store's original stone stable was still behind the current structure.
The New Orleans Hotel was a historic pub and accommodation established in 1866, and offered classic Kiwi fare.
This was our last glance of Buckingham St, which had charmed us from the moment we first saw it.
A few blocks away was Butler's Green, a large park with panels on the town's history. In 1862, gold was discovered by Jack Kewa on the Arrow and Shotover Rivers. With the discovery of gold also in the Arrow Gorge in 1862, goldseekers arrived in great droves. The Butler family was the first to arrive, and William Butler was Arrowtown's first shopkeeper, selling necessities such as flour brought from Dunedin in the southern part of the South Island.
The park's large grassy area had been the site of the cattle yards where wandering animals were kept until their owners paid a fine to have them released. The park's building was part of the original Arrowtown Police Camp, built in 1863 and subsequently restored. It was the town's oldest surviving building.
We read that, with the encouragement of the Provincial Council, Chinese miners began to arrive from Australia two years later, and then directly from China in 1869 to rework hard-rock claims.
The Arrowtown Chinese Settlement was one of many camps and settlements established by Chinese gold seekers in the Otago-Southland region from the late 1860s to the 1880s. Approximately 8,000 Chinese men came to the Otago-Southland region not as settlers but as miners to make money and return home. In the 1870s, the Chinese accounted for 40% of the region's miners, and for many years they produced 30% of its gold.
Ah Lum became a local hero when he saved an European miner from drowning in the Shotover River. His store below was the last store in the Arrowtown Chinese Settlement. When Lum died in 1925, the heart of the community died as well.
Almost every Chinese goldseeker came from the Cantonese province of Guangdong in Southern China. Life for peasant farmers was a struggle for survival against overpopulation, unemployment, disease, and political turmoil. The search for gold in New Zealand offered an escape from poverty. Those who could finance another's leaving gave the precious gift of li shung, or the gift of life. From the mid-19th century, a steady stream of migrants headed for goldfields in Canada, the US, Australia, and, from 1865, New Zealand.
The appeal was irresistible. The Chinese who came to NZ earned 271 pounds a year, compared to 10-12 pounds, and saved two-thirds of it to take home. The majority were young men, some barely out of childhood, and all but a few were poorly educated. They knew nothing of the countries that beckoned. To them, the United States was simply the "Golden Hills," and Australia and New Zealand were the "new Gold Hills."
The women who were left behind stayed to provide family support. They were equally uncertain about their future, not knowing when money would be sent home or if they would see their men again. In fact, almost one in seven gold seekers died in NZ.
Physical and emotional challenges extended beyond the search for gold. After Guangdong's near-tropical climate, the newcomers were shocked by the region's brutal winters and encountered local hostility.
The Chinese did their best to avoid trouble by keeping to themselves, living largely outside the European community, and relying on one another for support. Most men had a dream of returning home with enough to buy a small farm and turn poverty into sufficiency. In the early years, a gold seeker might achieve his goal after five years of hard work and frugal living.
Bilingual storekeepers provided a vital bridge between the poorly literate Chinese gold seekers and the White community. In addition to acting as spokesmen and interpreters, their services often included letter-writing and unofficial banking, especially the provision of credit.
By 1890, the region's readily worked gold had been exhausted, and many Chinese miners moved on. Most returned to China, some went to the West Coast goldfields, and others found new work, particularly in market gardening. The main occupants of the Arrowtown Chinese Settlement became elderly men living lonely lives.
Those who went home had lost touch with their families after years away and had outlived many of their own generation. Some returned to New Zealand. As European gold miners left the district, the remaining Chinese experienced less harassment. They were no longer considered competitors and are generally remembered as "honest, hard-working, and kindly people."
Until the 1980s, when New Zealand opened its doors more widely to immigration from China, the majority of the country's Chinese population could trace its ancestry to the Cantonese peasant farmers and others who came in search of gold. I looked forward to getting a better sense of Arrowtown's Chinese Settlement on the banks of Bush Creek, viewing the partially restored and partially recreated collection of 19th-century buildings.
Uneven ground at Su Sing's Store was all that remained from the original hub of settlement life. From 1870 to 1890, the long, narrow building served as his home, store, restaurant, boarding house, and social center.
As returns from gold mining declined, many Chinese turned to growing corn, cabbage, peas, and berries for their income. The local Chinese sold fresh vegetables in the Arrowtown area.
The restored remains of the settlement offered a rare glimpse into the life and times of the country's first Chinese immigrants.
While I had explored the Chinese Settlement by myself, Steven had walked along the nearby Arrow River and had found the spot where Tewa had found gold. Though he wasn't particularly involved in gold mining, word of his discovery reached those who were. This led to the Great Wakapiku Gold Rush that drew miners from around the world and laid the foundation for the town of Arrowtown. For a time, the river contained the highest concentration of the precious metal.
Buried under the tree was a time capsule commemorating 150 years since the discovery of gold and the formation of the town. Buried on October 22, 2012, it is to be reopened on that date in 3062, when the contents should be added to and reburied.
Click on the photo to make it bigger for your smile of the day!
Next post: Later that day, Steven and I explored nearby Cromwell's Historic Precinct and historic Clyde.
Posted on June 19th, 2026, from Berkeley, California, where we're visiting our son and his family for a few days after arriving from Taipei, Taiwan, at the end of a wonderful adventure that began in late March and took us through Fiji, New Zealand's South Island, a big chunk of Western Australia, Timor Leste, a couple of blissful days in Bali, and three plus weeks exploring Taiwan. Please take care of yourself and your loved ones.
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