There was no stampede, but there was definitely gold fever in the air at the 31st NZ Gold Panning Championships held at the Alexandra Blossom Festival on Saturday (September 24).

Organised by the Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust (OGHT), this year’s event attracted more than 50 entries.  

Competitors were given a 12kg bucket of gravel which had been “salted” with between 5-12 pellets of gold. They were judged on how fast they sluiced their gravel and how many pellets they found.  

It was a family affair for many of the competitors. Phoebe Ide (15) and her aunt, Megan Ide, from Queenstown, competed head-to-head, both coming away with wins in their categories.  

Megan and Phoebe Ide: Phoebe won first place in both the Women’s and Under 16 categories and Megan was the winner in the Open. They’re holding a modern version of the gold pan: with its bigger surface it holds more gravel and is easier and quicker to sluice with

The champs also attracted overseas competitors, one being Terry Hodge who hails from Ballarat, Australia. 

He competes both here and in Ballarat, and said “it’s the camaraderie I really enjoy, it’s a touch of gold”.  

Terry’s an old hand at sluicing

Ballarat and Central Otago are both stand outs when it comes to gold: at the height of the boom in gold dredging in the late 1800s, Alexandra was recognised as the “dredging capital of the world” and between 1852 and 1853, Ballarat was considered the world’s richest alluvial goldfield.

In the “give it a go” category, gold was guaranteed in every bucket and any gold found was ‘finders keepers’, much to the delight of five-year-old Scarlett Hartman. She was with her mum, Becky (both from Dunedin), who has been coming to the Blossom Festival for the past 16 years.

Phoebe Ide paying forward, helping Scarlett sluice

Someone very familiar with panning is OGHT life member, Gerald Goodger, an 87-year-old still working on his Merivale farm in the Lindis.  

Gerald Goodger from the Lindis Valley - home to the first gold rush in Otago, in March 1861

Gerald said he was approached a few years ago by the now defunct Glass Earth Gold company, wanting helicopter access to his farm to look for the golden treasure. He told them it would cost $1,000. They reluctantly agreed, but weren’t keen to tell him where exactly they were looking, however “when the company folded, I got it out of them” Gerald said. But he wouldn’t share that information with the Central App - his (smiling) lips were tightly sealed.

The OGHT said it was thrilled to have recently secured the rights to host the 2026 World Gold Panning Championships in Otago – a major achievement - and a first for New Zealand.

Click here for the full list of the NZ Gold Panning Championship 2022 results.