Situated on the east coast of the South Island in North Otago, Oamaru is well worth a visit. With a population of 20,000 it is not a large town, but one with a significant history. Settled by Europeans in the mid 1800s Oamaru first provided services to gold prospectors, and thrived. Sheep farming, initially for the wool, began around the 1860s and later frozen lamb exports transformed the town into a prosperous settlement, rivalling San Francisco. Otago is known to be a very dry area, where farming is dependent on irrigation and there were no native trees growing. The new residents resorted to carving out the local limestone, known as Oamaru stone, to build their stores, banks, halls and even an opera house. In the late 1800s that prosperity melted away because other cities had deeper and more sheltered ports.Today the permanent material buildings erected in the town's hey day are a wonderful legacy, now restored to their former beauty. A Victorian and Edwardian precinct has been created to highlight the heritage. Greek architecture must have been in vogue at the time as the old Bank of New South Wales looks like an Athenian temple.
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The town now refers to itself as 'The Steam Punk Capital of New Zealand,' combining Victoriana with machinery which has created a fun atmosphere. There is a 'Steam Punk' museum which we didn't venture into, but there are lots of displays and steam punk 'sculptures' especially around the water front area.
A steam driven crane.
On Sunday morning we enjoyed the local market where there was live music and all sorts of food to buy plus the veges we needed.
For our three nights in Oamaru we parked at Teschmakers, a former convent and rather posh boarding school. Joy and John now own the large property which is used as a wedding venue and conference centre. They very kindly allow us NZMCA campers to park there.
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