Pareau/Styx (Paerau, meaning many ridges, also known as Styx) is a further 26km past Patearoa, suggesting it is more a motorised off trail excursion than pedal power. If you are fit enough to ride to Pareau/Styx you make like to test your stamina by tackling the section of the Old Dunstan Trail that climbs up the Rock and Pillar Range from Pareau/Styx coming out onto State Highway 87 at Clarks Junction south of Middlemarch. The track surface is little changed from when it was used by 1860s gold prospectors to get from Dunedin to diggings around Clyde, and if they were lucky, return with their fortunes made. When they did, the still standing Stxy jail was used as an overnight lock up for their gold. The jail, Styx Hotel – now a holiday home – and hotel stables are privately owned but the public is welcome to look around.

Pareau/Styx is the starting point to explore the Serpentine gold diggings and valley and the headwaters of the Taieri River. This is New Zealand’s only example of a scroll plain wetland, a common system in Australia, known there as billabongs.

A bird’s eye view of New Zealand’s only scroll plain at the headwaters of the Taieri River. An area rich in wild life, 52 bird species have been recorded there. Photo: Neville Peat

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