Alexandra: Gold History, Trails and Wine

Alexandra brings together gold-mining history, trails, cultural attractions and sporting activities. If you’re looking for a hotel in Alexandra, you can plan your trip around whether you’re most interested in historic sites, a walk, a longer trail section, a spring festival or wine experiences. The differences below help distinguish the topics and trail profiles.

Traces of Gold and Stories from Central Otago

The Earnscleugh Tailings lie near Alexandra on the right bank of the Clutha River, also known as Mata-au. A walking trail provides public access. The site is of outstanding historical, technological and archaeological significance: it illustrates the development of mining, particularly gold dredging and its technologies, from the early 1860s to the 1960s. For visitors interested in the history of technology and mining, it is a tangible place where a long period of this development can be traced.

The Central Stories William Bodkin Memorial Museum presents stories from Central Otago. Topics range from geology and early explorers to social history, gold, gold dredging and mining, as well as farming, fruit growing and viticulture. Gold history is presented alongside other regional topics. The museum is also home to two Otago skinks (Oligosoma otagense). Admission to the William Bodkin Memorial Museum Gallery is by donation. The Alexandra Visitor Centre–Central Stories Museum provides local walking guides; check the latest visitor information before your visit.

A Walk and a Trail Compared

The Alexandra Clock Walk starts in town, leads to the distinctive clock on the hillside and crosses the historic Shaky Bridge on Kerry Street over the Manuherekia River. The Roxburgh Gorge Trail has a different trail profile: the section from Alexandra to Doctors Point is 10 km one way. The trail runs along the Clutha Mata-au between Alexandra and the Lake Roxburgh Hydro Dam, passing eroded cliff faces, old gold workings, willows, native shrubs and fragrant thyme. This contrasts a walk to a distinctive clock and across a historic bridge with a longer route featuring river scenery and traces of gold mining.

Events, Golf and Cycling

The Alexandra Blossom Festival is an annual three-day event celebrating spring. It includes a range of events and festivities; check the dates and programme before your trip. The Alexandra Golf Club is on the edge of Alexandra and has an 18-hole course. Visitors are welcome on club days and at open competitions. Plan around these opportunities and check the dates. Alexandra’s Fulton Hogan Community Cycle Park is free and includes a training track and a BMX track.

Wine from Alexandra

Perseverance Estate Wines is a family-run boutique winery. It produces handcrafted single-vineyard wines, including award-winning Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, rosé and the dessert wine Pinot Cousins. The wines are produced and bottled in Alexandra. Wine tastings are by appointment. If you’re planning a tasting, arrange a time in advance and check whether a visit is possible.

More Trails in the Wider Central Otago District Destination

The wider Central Otago District destination offers other trail profiles, with differences in distance, mode of travel and time required. The Roxburgh Gorge Trail there combines a 21-kilometre bike ride with a 13-kilometre boat trip, is graded 2–3 and is designed as a one-day tour. The Otago Central Rail Trail is 152 kilometres long, graded 1 and suitable for a tour of one to five days. It can be ridden in either direction, with access available at various points; the trail is suitable for walkers, cyclists and horse riders. These regional tours offer a different scale from the trails and activities right in Alexandra.

Discover more destinations: Kokonga, Naseby, Roxburgh, Millers Flat, Oturehua, Waipiata, Chatto Creek, Kyeburn Diggings.

View the wider travel overview: Central Otago District.