Discover Earnscleugh

Earnscleugh brings together the Fraser River, a picnic area, a track through historic tailings and local fruit businesses. There are also horse trekking tours. When choosing a destination for your hotel stay, you can weigh up these different highlights: a break by the water, exercise on a walking and cycling track, or a visit to a store or orchard.

By the Fraser River: Fraser Domain

Fraser Domain is in the heart of Earnscleugh, beside the Fraser River. The reserve offers visitors a place to enjoy a relaxed picnic. From there, you can continue on to Fraser Dam. If you would like to add another destination to your plans alongside the picnic, Fraser Dam is the suggested continuation of the outing.

Walk and cycle through the Earnscleugh Tailings

The Alexandra-to-Clyde River Track passes through the historic Earnscleugh Tailings. It is a combined walking and cycling track, suitable for the whole family. This offers a different way to spend time in Earnscleugh than having a picnic at Fraser Domain: you can travel along a route on foot or by bike. Combining a track with historic tailings brings exercise and a historical element into the same activity.

Fruit businesses and horse trekking

The Roberts Family Fruit Country Store is in Earnscleugh and welcomes visitors to its store. Strode Road Orchard is a family-run stone fruit orchard with a packhouse, also in Earnscleugh. Visitors are welcome to visit or get in touch. Check the orchard’s seasonal availability before travelling. The two places have different focuses: one is a store, while the other is a stone fruit operation with a packhouse.

Backcountry Saddle Expeditions offers horse trekking tours. The operator’s property is in Hidden Valley in Earnscleugh. For your travel plans, check bookings and operating arrangements in advance.

The wider context of the Central Otago District

In the Central Otago District, the wider travel destination, the Bannockburn Sluicings are a scarred landscape shaped by a short-lived gold-mining era. Various tracks make it possible to explore on foot or by bicycle. Another regional track is the Otago Central Rail Trail: it is 152 kilometres long, graded 1, and suitable for trips of one to five days. Walkers, cyclists and horse riders can use the trail; it can be travelled in either direction, with access available at various points. Along the route are mountainous, dry landscapes, river gorges, tunnels, viaducts, historic homesteads and preserved gold-mining settlements.

The Roxburgh Gorge Trail is also part of the wider Central Otago District. It follows the Clutha Mata-au River past eroded rock walls and old gold-mining sites. The one-day trip combines 21 kilometres of cycling with a 13-kilometre boat ride and is graded 2–3. This gives visitors in the region a choice of different timeframes and ways to travel, while Fraser Domain and the Alexandra-to-Clyde River Track shape the activities described in Earnscleugh.

Discover more destinations: Ranfurly, Coal Creek Flat, Queensbury, Naseby, Tarras, Lauder, Oturehua, Kokonga

For the wider travel overview: Central Otago District.