Our Communities

• Roxburgh

  Roxburgh is known for its fruit, berry and vegetable growing prowess, great coffee and legendary Jimmy’s Pies. It’s also an excellent hub for outdoor recreation. With the Clutha Gold and Roxburgh Gorge Cycle Trails on the doorstep you can drink the best coffee, snaffle a pie for now and one in the pack for later, and then walk, run or ride some cracker scenic trails.

  To learn all about the town’s history, dam construction and Chinese heritage, visit the Teviot District Museum in what was the first Methodist Church in the district, built in 1872.  Or tour the town’s historic buildings and views via a 5km loop walk that takes you on town footpaths and along the river reserve track. When exploring the town be sure to check out the creative skills of the locals. The township is dotted with unique and quirky metal sculptures – even the loo’s have their own special story telling sculpture. A recent addition is a large mural highlighting the many cultures with links to the valley, and the gallery of a local talented artist and photographer is well worth a visit.  

  Roxburgh’s Scottish heritage is hard to miss, with all its streets named for Scottish border localities. Its golf course is a unique and hilly challenge. The rock tors add an interesting point of difference, and obstacles to bounce the odd mishit off.

• Lake Roxburgh Village

  Lake Roxburgh village lies at the base of the Roxburgh Hydro Dam and alongside the Clutha River and was originally built for the dam workers. This was the earliest of the large hydro power projects in the South Island, with the first power generated in 1956 and it's also one of the few places in New Zealand that you can drive over the top of a dam, with the lake to one side and views to the river down below on the other.  

  This is where the Roxburgh Gorge Trail and Clutha Gold Trail connect, creating a natural place to rest with accommodation and food on offer in the village. 

  The Roxburgh Gorge trail begins above the village and provides fabulous vista's over the Teviot valley from the lookout above the dam and Lake Roxburgh as it wends it way towards Shingle Creek. There is a boat ramp at the top of the dam wall where you can launch your boat or kayak. However the nearest 'beach' and popular picnic spot on the lake is McKenzies Beach, accessible by car only, via Knobby’s Road on the east side of the river.

  Lake Roxburgh Village is the ideal access place for water sports with kayaking and fishing popular activities – the lake is well stocked with both brown and rainbow trout and at times Salmon are caught in the Clutha River below the the dam. 

  If a historical walk is up your alley, be sure to step it up on the Commissioners Walk starting across the dam from the village. You’ll see the extensive 20 metre schist bridge buttress, rock shelter remains, dam lookouts and there are information panels to tell you about the construction along the way.

• Ettrick

  Named after Ettrick Valley in Scotland by the Scottish settlers, Ettrick was founded on gold but is now most well-known for its premium apple growing skills, thanks to a perfect climate for fruit growing. This was one of the first places in New Zealand where settlers grew apples and it continues to be an important hub for apple exports today, with large scale packhouses featuring the very latest technology and the only registered organic packhouse in the South Island.

  In fact it’s a bit of a growing mecca, producing excellent peaches, apricots and pears as well as cherries, stone fruit, blueberries, luscious strawberries and the highest quality saffron is also grown nearby.

  Ettrick lies at the southern end of the Teviot Valley, so you can grab some delicious fruit or fill your boots at the Benger Garden café tearooms and then relax at the nearest picnic spot or head off into the Old Man Range for some awesome views of the Teviot Valley from Moa Flat.

  The town is an eclectic mix of holidaymakers, seasonal orchard workers, shearing crews and backpackers. Like many small towns in New Zealand, buildings that once housed the local tavern, school or church are now repurposed into someone's home or in the case of the Ettrick Tavern, backpacker accommodation. There is, of course, a community town hall and those all-important fruit pack houses.

• Millers Flat

  An eclectic mix of intrigue is the best way to describe Millers Flat. Leaving the main highway you cross the distinctive 'Blue Bridge' to the township proper. 

  In the town you’ll find a historic wooden bake house museum which offers an intriguing insight into how baking was 100 years ago. With no electricity, just candles and a fire, this 1908 bake house is well worth a visit. Next door is Faigans café and store, owned by four generations of the Faigan family who originally built the bake house. 

  With the Clutha Gold Trail passing through town, a tavern, holiday park, community outdoor pool and reserve its a great place to stop and relax. Get some gravel dust flying as you explore further afield driving out to Horseshoe Bend, which once upon a time supported 200 gold miners and shopkeepers. There’s a walkway to the only suspension bridge remaining of the many that once provided safe crossing over the Clutha River.

  Further up the road are the Lonely Graves. Legend has it they belong to William Rigney and a young man whose body Rigney found washed up on the beach. Set high on the hill is the wooden headstone marked with the words: “Somebody’s Darling Lies Buried Here.”

  Word has it that it wasn’t Rigney who found the body, but whatever the truth, Rigney was later buried beside the wooden grave and the words inscribed on his stone read: “Here lies the body of William Rigney, the man who buried Somebody’s Darling.”

  Also known for its Boxing Day Rodeo that attracts cowboys and girls from all over Australasia, Millers Flat is bustling when the horses roll into town.