The Mt Crichton Loop Track is a popular day walk just out of Queenstown. It is a moderate walk taking around two to three hours to complete, offering beautiful natural scenery and a glimpse into Queenstown’s gold mining past. The walk takes you past creeks, a waterfall, beech and manuka forests and a wonderful viewpoint for views over Lake Dispute and Lake Wakatipu.

A highlight of the walk is Sam Summers Hut, a charming reminder of Queenstown’s gold mining days. Some of Sam’s old tools and relics are still to be found in and around the hut. The Wakatipu gold rush kicked off in the early 1860s and brought thousands of miners to the Shotover and Arrow rivers. The gold rush boomed for years, but by the early 1900s, gold strikes were beginning to dwindle, and miners slowly made their way to other gold rushes around the world. It wasn’t until the 1950s that Queenstown began to boom again as its popularity as a holiday destination grew.