Dunstan Trail, also known as Old Dunstan Road, is a historic route in Otago,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The road was created during the

Central Otago Gold Rush The Otago Gold Rush (often called the Central Otago Gold Rush) was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand. This was the country's biggest gold strike, and led to a rapid influx of foreign miners to the area – ...

of the 1860s. At the time of the road's creation, it was the shortest route from the city of

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

to the goldfields around

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

, or Dunstan as it was then known. Known at the time as "The Mountain Track", it was a dangerous route which claimed numerous lives.The Dunstan Trail
, ''www.centralotagonz.com''. Retrieved 9 June 2019. The road begins at

Clarks Junction Clarks Junction, also known simply as Clarks, is a locality in the Otago Region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is located at the junction of State Highway 87 and the Old Dunstan Road, approximately halfway between Outram and Middlemarch ...

in Strath-Taieri, where it meets SH 87, and extends northwest, crossing between Lammermoor and

Rock and Pillar Range The Rock and Pillar Range of high hills is located in the Maniototo, an area of inland Otago, New Zealand. They are surrounded by the Taieri River, which has its source in the range, flowing out across the scroll plain at Paerau, before almost d ...

before turning north. It climbs to almost before dropping to Paerau (known during the gold rush era as Styx). The trail crosses farmland and subalpine tussock, passing close to Loganburn Reservoir, formerly the Great Moss Swamp. Beyond Paerau, the trail becomes rougher as it passes above the

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ba ...

s and oxbow lakes of the upper

Taieri River The Taieri River is the fourth-longest river in New Zealand and is in Otago in the South Island. Rising in the Lammerlaw Range, it initially flows north, then east around the Rock and Pillar range before turning southeast, reaching the sea sou ...

's scroll plain, and then descends towards Poolburn Reservoir, a location during the filming of ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's b ...

'' trilogy of films. From here it turns toward the valley of the

Manuherikia River The Manuherikia River is located in Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. It rises in the far north of the Maniototo, with the West Branch draining the eastern side of the St Bathans Range, and the East Branch draining the western flanks of t ...

, finishing at Moa Creek. Today, the trail is a public road, ranging in quality from chip-sealed road to gravel track. Much of the route is only suitable for four-wheel drive vehicles, and the road as a whole is closed in winter.

References

Roads in New Zealand Geography of Otago Scenic routes in New Zealand Tourist attractions in Otago {{NewZealand-road-stub