One of the most beautiful towns in New Zealand, which natural beauty aside doesn’t set the bar particularly high, Oamaru is home to a quite incredible collection of late nineteenth century buildings, demonstrating how wealthy the town once was. As well as wealth from timber and farming, it has distinctive local limestone which features prominently.dsc_0383 dsc_0375 dsc_0365 dsc_0362 dsc_0360 dsc_0356 dsc_0352 dsc_0351 dsc_0343 dsc_0404 dsc_0406 dsc_0334 dsc_0327 dsc_0306 dsc_0303 dsc_0302 dsc_0292

Particularly grand are the former Post Office, now council chambers, and the magnificent Opera House, which now seems to be more popular with ballet and Queen tribute bands.dsc_0388 dsc_0384 dsc_0391 dsc_0394 dsc_0368 dsc_0374 dsc_0372

3 responses to “Oamaru”

  1. We missed out on Oamaru the last time we visited New Zealand, making way for Dunedin. Wow. This is a wealthy town indeed! Interesting you captured a shot of the bank of new south wales. Isn’t that Australian?

    1. It was wealthy (and had a good supply of local stone) for a while, struggled for decades and now is having a new lease of life thanks to tourism. Yip, Australian bank, the four biggest in NZ all are (Westpac, ANZ, BNZ and ASB).

  2. […] South Island A good ten day trip with my parents exploring the parts of the South Island they hadn’t seen before. Though most were a repeat for me, it’s hard to get bored of revisiting places like Wanaka, Hanmer Springs, Brunner, the Southern Alps, Lake Tekapo, and Oamaru. […]

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