Raven's View

And I got a postcard, from me LOL. Here's the text that came with it -

I left Glendhu Bay and connected to the Motatapu Track, where the hike through the Fern Burn consisted of riparian shrubland and grassy flats. It was a leisurely, gentle meander.

Before long, I was climbing up the mountains, forested with silver and red beech. The trail narrowed with a few tantalising waterfalls. My first rest point was the Fern Burn Hut. I topped up my water and treated it to make it safe for drinking.

The next leg got more demanding as I climbed even higher to Jack Hall's Saddle, down into a creek bed, and up and down across ridgelines to the next hut for another rest. The trail regularly changed from going up and down to across ridgelines and sidling steep sections of the mountain.

The Motatapu Track ended in Macetown, an historic goldfield town established in the 1860s when alluvial gold was discovered. Soon after, miners turned their attention to quartz mining operations. Once the gold ran out, most people moved on and Macetown became a ghost town. All that remains are a few restored buildings and interpretation boards.

I hiked beside the Arrow River for a while until I turned off to connect with the Big Hill Walkway and weaved my way up to the ridge, then down the other side, fording several streams. The views were breathtaking, with golden tussock grasslands, occasional patches of forest, valleys, and hill after hill creating a visual feast.

I arrived in Arrowtown, another historic gold mining town. When gold was found, the town swiftly sprang up with a population of 1,000 miners. At its height, the population exploded to 7,000 people from European to Chinese settlers. As the gold rush dwindled, so did the population, and services switched to helping local farmers. Many historic buildings have been preserved, including the heritage-listed Chinese Settlement.

Arrowtown is a charming town, particularly Buckingham Street, lined with historical buildings and new ones built to blend in with its 19th-century style. The bakery on the corner is famed for its pies but for a sweet tooth like mine, the Remarkable Sweet Shop definitely warranted a stop.

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 Buckingham Street, in Arrowtown.  

Lots of golf clubs south of Arrowtown, in the flats. This is at Mill Green.  

And then the hike continued south, along Te Araroa Trail, to a pause.