Autumn colours down the main shopping street in Arrowtown.br/br/Arrowtown is an historic gold mining town in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. Arrowtown is located on the banks of the Arrow River, a 15 minute drive from Queenstown. During the high point of the gold rush in the 1860s, the population of Arrowtown rose to over 7,000. The preservation of its past is evident with miners' cottages, historic wooden buildings, and 19th century-style shops, still standing as they did during the gold rush.br/br/The town reached a population low of fewer than 200 people in the 1960s. Increasingly in recent years, the town has seen considerable growth with a popuation well over 2,000 nowadays. The local authorities aim to preserve the appearance of the town applying strict regulations on housing developments and plantings.