Morningstar Track to the Shotover River

#349 Do - The Morningstar Track to the Shotover River. Once described as ‘The Richest River in the World’, it’s only a 30 minute return walk from the carpark just off Arthur’s Point Road. With informative panels along the track, it was on the banks of the Shotover where Thomas Arthur and Harry Redfern first found gold in 1862 and 4000 miners were there by 1863. The equivalent of $800,000,000 of gold was exported from Otago that year! Dunedin merchant, Choie Sew Hoy, developed a dredge for a claim on the Shotover in 1889. The successful design created ‘dredging fever’ in Otago and dredges used today are based on his original design. Fun to see the Shotover Jet zoom by, it’s a very pretty spot for a quick stride before hopping back in the car for home.

#history #trail