[Verse]
Shotover River, your gold it is waningÂ
It s weeks since the color I ve seen.Â
But it s no use just sitting and Lady Luck blamingÂ
I ll pack up and make the break clean.Â
[Chorus]
Farewell to the gold that never I found,Â
  Â
Goodbye to the nuggets that somewhere abound;Â
For it s only when dreaming that I see you gleamingÂ
       Â
Down in the dark deep underground.Â
[Verse]
It s nearly two years since I left my old motherÂ
For adventure and gold by the pound.Â
With Jimmy the prospector, he was another,Â
For the hills of Otago was bound.Â
Well we worked the Cardrona s dry valley all overÂ
Old Jimmy Williams and me.Â
They were panning good dirt on the winding ShotoverÂ
So we drifted down there just to see.Â
We sluiced and we cradled for day after dayÂ
Barely making enough to get by;Â
Til a terrible flood swept poor Jimmy awayÂ
During six stormy days in July