The Kawarau Falls Dam was one of the first stops we made after arriving in Queenstown. We’d flown in from Brisbane and were greeted by a clear blue sky, though with a chill we weren’t quite expecting. The dam sits in the Frankton area, fairly close to the airport and to the hotel where we were staying, but a little way from the town centre.

The history of the Kawarau Falls Dam

The history of the Kawarau Falls Dam is tied to the gold rush that brought thousands of people to this part of New Zealand. It was built at a time when demand for the gold hidden in the Kawarau River ran high, with the goal of controlling the flow and making it easier to reach the riverbed. The idea was ambitious, and it ended up becoming one of the most curious stories in this part of Queenstown, at a time when almost anything seemed worth trying in the hunt for more gold. From the earliest years of the Otago gold rush, on New Zealand’s South Island, it was believed that the bed of the Kawarau River hid large quantities of gold. For decades, ideas kept coming up for lowering the water level enough to explore the riverbed. The idea even appeared in a book by Julius Vogel, published in 1889, imagining the possibility of pulling millions of pounds’ worth of gold from the area. In 1922, the idea finally started to take shape with the founding of the Kawarau Gold Mining Company, which had a rather ambitious goal. Build a dam at the outlet of Lake Wakatipu, in Queenstown, control the river’s flow and leave the Kawarau riverbed exposed for mining.

Construction of the dam began in 1925 and was completed the following year, in a project that cost around £106,000 - a small fortune at the time. The plan was to close the gates and let the river level drop enough for miners to reach the riverbed and search for gold. The big experiment took place on 30 August 1926, when the gates were finally closed in front of a crowd waiting to see whether the plan would work.

But the plan didn’t go as expected. Once the gates were closed, the river level dropped by only about a metre - far less than needed to expose the Kawarau riverbed. Just ten days later, the gates had to be reopened. The problem lay with the rivers still feeding into the Kawarau, such as the Shotover, which brought in enough water to stop the level from dropping any further. The solution would have been to build more dams to control those tributaries too, but the money ran out before the idea could go any further. The big bet to find gold at the bottom of the Kawarau ended up falling well short of what everyone had hoped.

View of Lake Wakatipu against the sun, with small tree-covered islets and the Queenstown mountains in the backgroundPanoramic view of Lake Wakatipu with tree-covered islets and the Queenstown mountains in the backgroundModern houses built on the hillside next to Lake Wakatipu, seen from the dam bridgeTall eucalyptus trees silhouetted against a blue sky, with the Queenstown mountains in the backgroundTurquoise-green waters of Lake Wakatipu by the shore, with trees and a wooden fenceView of the Queenstown mountains with a rainbow forming through the clouds, next to the Kawarau Falls DamGrassy area by the shore of Lake Wakatipu, with the Queenstown mountains in the backgroundSandy shore of Frankton Beach by Lake Wakatipu, with trees and mountains in the background

The dam through our eyes

We arrived in Queenstown from Brisbane at around 5.00pm. After all those hours on a plane, it felt great to drop our bags at the hotel and stretch our legs. We walked to the Kawarau Falls Dam, about a 20-minute walk away. The dam itself isn’t anything extraordinary, but the view is well worth it. The lake, the mountains and that deep blue sky, despite the cold, had us thinking “what a view!” straight away. It was our first real taste of New Zealand, and we couldn’t have asked for a better start.

From the dam, we followed the waterfront towards Frankton Beach, passing by the Peace Park Wakatipu Reforestation Trust. It was a peaceful walk - we came across few people along the way, and those we did meet made a point of greeting us, which turned out to be our first taste of Kiwi friendliness. Since we’d be exploring downtown Queenstown the next day, it felt good to ease into things in this quieter area first. That was actually part of the reason we chose to stay in Frankton in the first place. Since we’d be picking up our rental car at the airport and heading on towards Milford Sound, staying there also put us closer to the way out of town.

The author walking across the wooden bridge at the Kawarau Falls Dam, with mountains and trees in the backgroundA group of four people holding hands on the Kawarau Falls Dam bridge, with the lake and Queenstown mountains in the backgroundThe author smiling on the Kawarau Falls Dam bridge, with a small tree-covered islet and Lake Wakatipu in the backgroundA man in a teal jacket seen from behind, taking in the view of Lake Wakatipu from the bridgeThe author and her mother smiling by Lake Wakatipu, with houses on the hillside in the backgroundThe author walking along a tree-lined path in the Peace Park Wakatipu Reforestation TrustA couple smiling next to a tree with yellow autumn leaves, in the Peace Park Wakatipu Reforestation TrustA group of three people smiling in the Peace Park Wakatipu Reforestation Trust, with the Queenstown mountains in the backgroundThe author smiling on the shore of Frankton Beach, with yellow autumn trees and Lake Wakatipu in the backgroundA man in a teal jacket, leaning on a wooden stick, looking out over Lake Wakatipu from the beachThe author photographing her partner by the water at Frankton Beach, during their late-afternoon walkA couple crouching by the water at Frankton Beach, picking up stones on the shore of Lake WakatipuA group walking away from the camera along a lakeside path, with the Queenstown mountains in the backgroundThe author on a swing by Lake Wakatipu, facing the water and the houses on the opposite shoreA man sitting on a swing under a tree, in the Peace Park Wakatipu Reforestation TrustThe author smiling under a tree with yellow autumn leaves, by Lake Wakatipu

For us, it was a great way to start our trip around New Zealand. The Kawarau Falls Dam may not be Queenstown’s biggest attraction, but between the dam’s history, the scenery and the peaceful walk along the waterfront, we ended up spending a really enjoyable late afternoon in Frankton. We couldn’t have picked a better way to start getting to know Queenstown. 🩷

I already have several posts about New Zealand here on the blog, so click here to see them all.