Macetown is an historic gold mining settlement in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is now uninhabited but has become a tourist attraction. Access to the town is via an unsealed road that heads up the steep-sided Arrow gorge. This can be traversed on foot or by mountain bike, horse or four-wheel-drive vehicles.

Camp here and explore one of the most intact historic goldfield towns in Otago. Walk, mountain bike or 4WD around the reserve. The historic track from Arrowtown to Macetown links with the the multi-day Motatapu Track - this is a challenging 4WD drive.

Camp in Macetown, one of Otago’s most intact historic goldfield towns. Walk, bike or 4WD around the township or up the valley to the Homeward Bound Stamper Battery. Fees

We walked from the Macetown site to some of the stamp batteries and found that they were significantly in tact - a tribute to the gold miners who hauled all that equipment up the mountains over a century ago! The settlement area itself is also a lovely spot to picnic or camp, with remnant shade and fruit trees still growing there.

Jan 5, 2023 · Venture into the wilderness above Arrowtown on a historic route followed by miners during the Gold Rush. A tourist hub, it can feel like it’s difficult to escape the crowds in Queenstown and the surrounding areas.

Our historic Macetown 4×4 scenic tour is specially designed for guests that want a true New Zealand Back Country Experience. Narrow, single lane pathways, waterfalls, high bluffs with sheer drops and 25 river crossings make the journey …

On arrival at Macetown, the historic reserve can be explored by bike. It is, however, well worth taking the challenging 45-minute walk up the Rich Burn Valley culminating at the four-storey-high Homeward Bound Stamper Battery – one of the country’s most impressive gold mining relics.

Macetown is located 15 km further up the Arrow River among the mountains, far from civilization. And yet, Macetown was able to boom as a town, complete with a school, a church, and two hotels solely due to the mining industry. "300 settlers used to live here. Now it’s just a ghost town."

Macetown is now a ghost town, which was always remote and its climate harsh, but it only closed down when the mines eventually failed. Hundreds of exotic trees grow on the once treeless landscape amongst which were stores, smithies, hotels and humble cottages.

Dec 10, 2019 · Hidden away in the mountain backcountry near the modern-day bustling tourist resort of Queenstown is Macetown, an old gold-mining settlement long since abandoned and left to ruin. During its heyday in the 1860s, over 1500 …