345 Bendigo Loop Road, Bendigo, Central Otago
Twenty kilometres from Cromwell and just south of Tarras lie the Bendigo Goldfields, consisting of three deserted gold towns.
Turn off the Cromwell-Tarras Road, at Crippletown. A Department of Conservation Kiosk gives information about the old Bendigo Goldfields. Despite there being little to see apart from crumbling cottages and mine shafts, the area has atmosphere.
Bendigo was initially an alluvial gold mine. Then quartz reefs were discovered and the local miners moved onto quartz crushing. Lastly there was a brief period of dredging. Bendigo’s population peaked at about 200, and the town had all the usual attributes - bakery, pub, store and houses. Dozens of crumbling stone cottages and huts still stand, some in amongst scrub and others out in the open. You will also find deep mine shafts and tunnels (not all of which are marked or covered!) and the quite obvious tailings (piles of gravel excavated from the shafts). A whole day walk has been created at the top of the Logantown Road, it is called the Kanuka Loop Track, and there are views and more remnants of mining including at a Chinamans Creek.
The deepest of the mine shafts is recorded at 159 metres. The road to Logantown and Welshtown is steep and narrow.
The north facing slopes of the Bendigo Station now produce Pinot Noir Wine, from several vineyards, the most well known being Quartz Reef.
Bendigo, Central Otago, by Richard Hume
Image Credit: Tracey Anderson Photographer
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