Paerau is a small settlement in inland Otago in New Zealand's South Island. It is located in the upper valley of the Taieri River), at the foot of the Rock and Pillar Range. Its name means "one hundred ridges" in Maori.
Despite being geographically close to Middlemarch and Roxburgh, the terrain and roads mean that Ranfurly and Patearoa are the more closely related communities of interested.
Paerau is also colloquially referred to as The Styx. This name relates to the Styx Creek, a small tributary of the Taieri that leaves the Great Moss Swamp (swamp is in fact a misnomer, as due to an irrigation dam, it is now a lake). The Dunstan Trail (now a dry weather road) from Dunedin to the Central Otago goldfields crosses the Rock and Pillar Range from Clark's Junction (near Middlemarch) and descends into the Upper Taieri, whence it crosses the Styx Creek. In an allusion to Styx, the river bounding the underworld, it is perhaps a comment on the nature of the frontier goldfields. Originally the second overnighting stop from Dunedin (after Clark's Junction) there is an old hotel and gaol at Styx Creek. In keeping with this theme, the hotel had a coin embedded in the bar, alluding to the coin required for the ferryman across the river to the underworld. The site of the hotel is several kilometres from the modern 'hub' of Paerau, the school. The Dunstan Trail continued on from Paerau, via the Serpentine goldfields to the Poolburn Reservoir and eventually to Alexandra.
Paerau is located on a large scroll plain. The meanderings of the river is extremely complex, leaving many oxbow lakes.
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