New Chums Gully Circuit, Arrowtown NZ

A shortish circuit walk out the back of Arrowtown that offers pleasant rather than spectacular scenery.

New Chums Gully Circuit, Arrowtown

There are various tracks out the back of Arrowtown, and although to see the best scenery you have to climb some of the peaks (such as Brow Peak and Crown Peak) on long day walks, the shortish trails closer to town offer a bit of variety for when you’ve done the more famous tracks in the Queenstown area. And you can fit many of the options into a half day. The New Chums Gully Circuit is just such a walk, and you may not see anybody else along the mid-section  of this route.  When you’ve finished, Arrowtown makes for a nice, albeit touristy spot for afternoon tea.

Track notes at the end. Another better known option is to do the Sawpit Gully Circuit, and there are other variations on top of that.

New Chums Gully Circuit: The Scenery

New Chums Gully Circuit, Arrowtown
Panorama of the Wakatipu Basin, with Arrowtown in the mid ground.
New Chums Gully Circuit, Arrowtown
Brow Peak, which I climbed the next day. That was a really good walk.
New Chums Gully Circuit, Arrowtown
I’m still not sure what these bushes are with the yellow flowers, but they are common and nice. Possibly a weed.
New Chums Gully Circuit, Arrowtown
Flowers I’ve not seen before.
New Chums Gully Circuit, Arrowtown
There were lots of these yellow flowers.
New Chums Gully Circuit, Arrowtown
Some lush green sections.
New Chums Gully Circuit, Arrowtown
Descending through wildflowers to the Arrow River.
New Chums Gully Circuit, Arrowtown
The Arrow River

Track Notes

New Chums Gully Circuit, Arrowtown
On a track the whole way.

The following pictures are enough to do this walk; just keep a look out for markers when they have them, and the track is obvious so don’t go off on any footpads.

Section of the Arrowtown Walks map.
The New Chums Gully Circuit as we did it was: start at ‘You Are Here’, then 14a, 8b, 8a, 4, then return through town to the start.

Arrowtown Walks List

We started the walk at Ford St…

Author: Edward Hathway

I'm a clinical psychologist and keen hiker.

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