Alexandra

Alexandra is a town in Central Otago on the South Island of New Zealand. It is situated on the banks of the Clutha River, which merges there with the Manuherikia River and has a population of 4,824 in the census of 2006.

The city is the largest city in Central Otago.  The area is the farthest away from the sea and therefore is seen as one of the few regions in New Zealand with a continental climate with harsh winters and hot, dry summers. At the time of the Otago gold rush in the 1860s Alexandra was first called Lower Dunston, Junction Township or Manurherikia.

Later it was named after the Princess Alexandra of Denmark, in 1863 the then Prince of Wales, had later married Edward VII.  After the first known gold deposits were exploited, there was a second gold boom in Alexandra, where the river sediments of the Clutha River and its tributaries were searched for additional gold deposits.

These extensions of the river bed are now used as reservoirs and irrigation channels for the orchards. Stone fruit (especially apricots) became a lucrative industry and is celebrated with a blossom festival each spring.

Attractions in Alexandra are a “wobbly” bridge from the year 1879, for many the symbol of the city, the Sir William Bodkin Museum, showing the usual methods of gold extraction and the Tucker Hill Lookout, from where there is a good view of the green fruit trees located in town.

Between 1906 and 1990, Alexandra joined with the Otago Central Railway to the New Zealand rail network. The former railway embankment is now used as Otago Central Rail Trail.

Alexandra is a town in Central Otago on the South Island of New Zealand. It is situated on the banks of the Clutha River, which merges there with the Manuherikia River and has a population of 4,824 in the census of 2006.

The city is the largest city in Central Otago.  The area is the farthest away from the sea and therefore is seen as one of the few regions in New Zealand with a continental climate with harsh winters and hot, dry summers. At the time of the Otago gold rush in the 1860s Alexandra was first called Lower Dunston, Junction Township or Manurherikia.

Later it was named after the Princess Alexandra of Denmark, in 1863 the then Prince of Wales, had later married Edward VII.  After the first known gold deposits were exploited, there was a second gold boom in Alexandra, where the river sediments of the Clutha River and its tributaries were searched for additional gold deposits.

These extensions of the river bed are now used as reservoirs and irrigation channels for the orchards. Stone fruit (especially apricots) became a lucrative industry and is celebrated with a blossom festival each spring.

Attractions in Alexandra are a “wobbly” bridge from the year 1879, for many the symbol of the city, the Sir William Bodkin Museum, showing the usual methods of gold extraction and the Tucker Hill Lookout, from where there is a good view of the green fruit trees located in town.

Between 1906 and 1990, Alexandra joined with the Otago Central Railway to the New Zealand rail network. The former railway embankment is now used as Otago Central Rail Trail.