Oamaru

We left Christchurch after picking up a rental car, and headed south, following the coastal road. Oamaru is approximately a three hour drive. Easy peasy, even in the rain.

Starting to get a bit peckish, we pulled off the highway at Ashburton, finding a lovely eatery attached to a garden centre. Perfect for a light lunch. The ginger, sugary slice was possibly not needed and overkill for our hunger, but hey, it was good!

Oamaru flourished after its settlement in the 1850s, becoming a major port for wool and grain, and when the frozen meat industry was established in nearby Totara, the port was used to export frozen meat to other countries. Apparently, the first shipment didn’t make it as the refrigeration process failed on route. Oh dear.

There was plentiful limestone (Oamaru stone) in the district and Oamaru became home to an impressive array of “Victorian” styled buildings in the main street and became know as the “best built and most mortgaged town in Australasia”! Many public buildings used the local limestone quarried nearby, and known as Oamaru stone.

The Victorian precinct in the southern part of Oamaru’s main commercial district feels like stepping into a perfectly preserved slice of the 1880s. Built from the town’s distinctive creamy Oamaru limestone during its wool and grain boom, the harbour-side warehouses and commercial buildings now house galleries, bookshops, artisan studios and small cafés. It’s one of the best collections of Victorian commercial architecture in the Southern Hemisphere. What’s different, is it doesn’t feel staged – it feels normal.

Prohibition

Oamaru has quite the history when it comes to alcohol. As a town, it voted to ban the sale of liqueur in 1905 and became the town in New Zealand which went the longest without alcohol until it was brought back in around 1961. That’s a long dry spell!

We had a most enjoyable one night stay at The Vicarage, a beautifully presented and comfortable B&B, located within a block of the main street. Highly recommend as a comfortable B&B located right in the middle of town, and the breakfast was delicious.

After settling in, our B&B hosts gave us the run down on best options for dinner. We were told that Fat Sally’s was an excellent choice but be careful as the meals were big. That was an understatement! On that advice, we ordered sparingly, sharing the entre of seafood chowder and sharing the main of lamb shanks with mash – the perfect choices for a cold and wet night and both were delicious. The face of someone who realises just how big the meals are.

Steampunk International Headquarters

We’d never heard of Steampunk before Oamaru. What is it? The best description we came across was “where Jules Vern meets Back to the Future”. Oamaru has the auspicious fame of being the Steampunk Headquarters of the World! Quite an acclaim. This weird collector passion brings a lot of visitors to Oamaru, we are led to believe.

Oamaru is still very much a working port town and the harbour continues to handle coastal cargo and fishing boats. The original wharf still stands, no longer used commercially – it’s now part of the town’s history and a place for an stroll with wide streets, wide footpaths and plenty to see.

We were so surprised by the Oamaru Public Gardens, right in the centre of town. It’s one of the loveliest green spaces in a small town we have come across, and it carries quite a bit of history. Established in the 1870s, it’s recognised as one of the oldest public gardens in New Zealand. Like many Victorian-era gardens of the time, it was designed not just as a recreational space, but as a symbol of civic pride and progress, a way for a growing colonial town to show refinement and optimism.

Over the decades, the gardens evolved in true Victorian fashion, with carefully planned avenues, ornamental lakes, exotic specimen trees, and formal flower beds. Many of those grand trees you see today were planted in the late 19th century, giving the park its established, almost stately feel. There’s also a charming old band rotunda and historic glasshouse. There’s shady walking tracks and we were pleased to see so many people enjoying the gardens as they were designed for.

Moeraki Boulders

Just a short drive south of Oamaru is a delightful little detour. A coastal walk that traces the shoreline past giant, weathered boulders that have tumbled from the cliffs above, creating a natural sculpture garden in the sand against the backdrop of the Pacific.