Street light on Devon Street, Arrowtown – Buy or view the Ōtepoti | Dunedin gallery

Geographically, Dunedin is in a rather odd place. Due to the fact that it is surrounded by hills, if you want to go in any direction by vehicle, you have two options. Let me explain! If you want to travel north, you have to head north along the Northern motorway. If you want to head south, you have to travel south along the Southern motorway. If you want to head west, you have to first travel north or south for 55 kilometers (35 miles) before turning west, and if you want to head east then you need to get a boat. As I was driving inland to Arrowtown, in a kind of west by north-west direction (some 270km away), I could either first head north or south before pointing the car inland. So, with the flip of a coin, on a cold and wet Dunedin evening, I headed south. 

An hour was spent in Friday evening traffic that traveled at a brisk but uneventful pace. I stopped and ate at a Subway restaurant in Milton, I listened to a podcast and generally tried my best to not become a statistic of the long weekend road toll. I drove through places like the Manuka Gorge, Beaumont, Rae’s Junction, Judge Creek, Benger Burn and Slaughter House Creek, where there was occasional drizzle, some wind and a Lexus driver that didn’t seem to know the give way rule, or how to calculate a safe following distance while traveling at speeds in excess of 100km per hour. I stopped and looked at stars at Lake Dunstan, discovered newly formed round-abouts in Cromwell and watched the temperature drop by 10 degrees to -1 at my final destination, Arrowtown, just in time for a beer and a short walk in the chilly night air.

Historic Cottages on Buckingham Street– Buy or view the Ōtepoti | Dunedin gallery

There aren’t many places in Aotearoa I would call a treasure. For example I wouldn’t call Invercargill a treasure, nor Gore or its close neighbor Matarua. Bulls in the North Island isn’t a treasure, however one place that most assuredly is a treasure is Arrowtown. Another is St Bathans. I can’t quite describe what it is that makes Arrowtown and St Bathans a treasure, however if you ever drive through them, believe me, you’ll understand. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that places like Invercargill, Gore, Matarua or Bulls are bad places, far from it. I’m sure the people who live there are very happy and like the place very much, it’s just that I like Arrowtown and St Bathans so much more. 

When it comes to places like Arrowtown and St Bathans, I think it’s the fact that they have a homely, timeless, old world character about them that is all together charming. I like the fact that in Arrowtown you can walk down the main street and it doesn’t take much imagination to picture what the place would have been like in the 1860’s. Gazing up into the hills, I almost expect to see prospectors appearing from beyond the ridgeline with all their worldly possessions slung over their shoulders. 

It’s William Fox we can thank for Arrowtown. He was the man who first discovered gold in the area and started a rush that brought miners from all around the globe into the tiny village. If we could go back in time to 1862 and put William Fox into a Delorean, get it up to 88 miles an hour and bring him back to the present day, I’m sure he’d be mighty impressed. Not only would he be dazzled to be here at all, he’d also be fairly stunned at what Arrowtown has become. Or still is to be precise. It’s a quaint village with a population of around 2000 people that is filled by tree lined streets, cottages, a delightful shopping area and plenty of walking tracks along the river. 

It had been a few years since I had been to Arrowtown, in fact it felt like it had been a few years since I’d been anywhere outside of Dunedin. While this wasn’t entirely true, I did find myself needing to go exploring, a road trip if you will. It didn’t need to be long, just a change in surroundings for a few days would do nicely. Fortunately, there was a long weekend coming up and this seemed the ideal time to reacquaint myself with Arrowtown or anywhere for that matter. As long as it wasn’t Mataura! 

Corner of Princes & Stuart Street– Buy or view the Ōtepoti | Dunedin gallery

It was an early morning on the corner of Princes and Stuart Street in the Octagon as the night vibes started giving way to the early dawn.

Jetty and Vogel Street – Buy or view the Ōtepoti | Dunedin gallery

Turning to the quiet hours after sundown and into the dark streets we go to checkout the nights vibes on Dunedin’s Jetty and Vogel Streets.