Cross over the river the gold is waiting
And it's years since the colour I've seen
And it's no use just sitting and Lady Luck blaming
I'll pack up and make the break clean

Chorus

Farewell to the gold that never I found
Goodbye to the nuggets that somewhere abound
For it's only when dreaming that I see the gleaming
Down in the dark deep underground

Well it's nearly two years since I left my own mother
For adventure and gold by the pound
And with Jimmy the prospector, he was another
To the hill of Otago we were bound

Chorus

Well we worked the Cardona, dry valleys all over
Old Jimmy Williams and me
They were panning good dirt on the winding shot over
So we headed down there just to see

Chorus

We sluiced and we cradled for day after day
Making hardly enough to get by
Then a terrible flood swept poor Jimmy away
During six stormy days in July

Chorus (x2)

Can be found on the album Time For Touching Home