Paerau

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Paerau ( Māori hundred ridge ) is a small, isolated village located in the inland of Otago on the South Island of New Zealand. It lies on the upper reaches of the Taieri River at the foot of the Rock and Pillar Range. The village lies in a plane in which the river meanders and oxbow lakes forms. Northeast of the town there is a reservoir.

The nearest small town is Patearoa, about 25 km north-east, the nearest major town Ranfurly, the further 20 km to the north lies. The place is only connected by a main road with Patearoa, secondary roads also run through the Lammermoor Range to Clarks Junction about 50 km to the south and the north of the Lammerlaw Range in the about 70 km to the west of the Clutha River Valley located at Roxburgh.

In Paerau is a small primary school located in 2009 with only five students and a decile rating of 10

" The Styx "

Paerau is colloquially called The Styx. The name comes from Styx Creek, a small tributary of the Taieri, which comes from the Great Moss Swamp. " Swamp " ( "swamp " ) is misleading here because the area for irrigation was flooded by a dam and is now a lake. The Dunstan Trail (now a passable in dry weather road) from Dunedin to the goldfields of Central Otago crosses the Rock and Pillar Range from Clarks Junction in Middlemarch and descends into the valley of the upper reaches of the Taieri, where it crosses the River Styx. The allusion to the mythological Greek Styx, the border river to the underworld, is perhaps a commentary on the nature of the gold fields that were pioneer country at that time. Originally Styx Creek to Clarks Junction was the second night on the way from Dunedin to the goldfields. There is an old hotel and jail. The hotel had a coin in the bar admitted that refers to the coin that was needed to pay the ferryman for passage over the Styx. This hotel is located several kilometers from the "center" of today's Paerau, school, away. The Dunstan Trail ran from Paerau in a northwesterly direction over the Serpentine Goldfields Pool Burn Reservoir, and finally to Alexandra.

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