Author Archives: thecuriouskiwi

Oamaru – where beer was once more popular than water

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Prior to 1880 it was easier to get a beer in Oamaru than it was to get a decent glass of water. In the late 1800’s there were a few breweries, 17 hotels and 32 unlicensed grog shops to quench the local thirst.

These days Oamaru’s water supply gets good grades, and although Prohibition stopped the beer flowing for over 50 years, today you can get a beer in two hotels that served the locals in the 1880’s – The Criterion and Brydone Hotel* (formerly Queen’s Hotel).

The hotels are just two of the many impressive limestone buildings … Read the rest

Stable Stay – Larnach Castle, Dunedin

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My first castle stay was at Bolebroke Castle in England. I was living in the UK at the time and had been to a few castles so thought I knew what a castle looked like. I was surprised when we pulled in to Bolebroke Castle – it looked like a big house, if there was a tower it was easily mistaken for a chimney. One of Bolebrook Castle’s claims to fame is that it was reputedly used as a hunting lodge by Henry VIII when he courted Anne Boleyn. Anne Boleyn lived in nearby Hever Castle, she definitely had … Read the rest

Jaffa racing….sort of

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Every year in July thousands of giant jaffas used to race down Baldwin Street in Dunedin as part of the Cadbury Chocolate Carnival, however Cadbury World has now closed. The jaffas raced down New Zealand’s steepest street to raise money for charity, each race had around 25,000 numbered jaffas! We decided to hold a race on a more modest scale – one packet of jaffas.

Media turned out in unprecedented numbers 😉 to record the event. I can imagine the comments from the couch when watching the home video – weird woman, and losing marbles may be mentioned. Although as … Read the rest

Supernatural St Bathans?

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Legend has it the Vulcan Hotel in St Bathans is haunted, some say by a ‘lady of the night’. A Paranormal Investigator checked in back in 2011, he checked out with no definitive paranormal proof but was spooked enough to turn on the light to investigate strange happenings before his stay was over.

In 2010 there was a supernatural image in the post office window – or was it a cloud? Who knows, but there may be somethin’ strange in the neighbourhood.

The Vulcan Hotel in St Bathans – raise a glass with the ghosts ….

The man-made Blue Lake… Read the rest

O-phir Awesome

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In Ophir some of the locals wear “O-phir awesome” t-shirts, we like Ophir too. There are a surprising number of buildings that remain from the gold mining days.The smart Pitches Store is a top coffee spot and guests rate the attached accommodation highly.

Ophir is a short detour from the Otago Rail Trail, other cute cottage accommodation options are Ryan’s Cottage and Cottages on Swindon B&B.

The Ophir Post Office was built in 1886 and still operates from 9am-12 noon Monday – Friday, unfortunately we visited out of hours so couldn’t see inside. Another unique place to post a … Read the rest

Bannockburn Sluicings

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If you like unusual landscapes the Bannockburn Sluicings near Cromwell are a rugged collection of cliffs, pinnacles, caves and gullies created by gold sluicing. At Stewart Town you’ll see the remains of a stone house, and an old orchard planted in the early 1900’s that still produces fruit.

Take water and wear sturdy shoes, rabbits will keep you company as you walk the tracks through the ‘badlands’. (Allow two hours, walk information is included in the Walk Cromwell brochure along with Bendigo).

Remains of a stone house and orchard at Stewart Town ………… Read the rest

There are rabbits in them thar hills

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I gave up counting rabbits around Bendigo once I hit 50 – they were everywhere. I wasn’t surprised when I read that a pair of rabbits can potentially breed to 12 million in three years!

Rabbits were released in the South Island in the 1850’s, by the late 1800’s they had stripped the land in some parts of Central Otago to such an extent that farms were abandoned. Methods to control the population included harvesting for meat and skins, a rabbit canning factory was opened in Cromwell in 1915, receiving 10,000 carcasses a day was common.

There was a change … Read the rest

The town that drowned

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A town submerged by any means other than natural causes seems a remote possibility to us, but it was a reality in the old gold mining town of Cromwell. Cromwell’s original town centre was established in 1862, it was demolished in the late1980’s, and flooded in the early 1990’s to make way for Clyde Dam  ….

In the mid 1980’s a group of concerned locals foresaw the loss of their town’s heritage and formed “Save Old Cromwell”. It led to historic buildings in the town centre being dismantled and rebuilt on higher and drier ground that is now Cromwell Heritage … Read the rest

Unusual fences

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Some of the unusual fence decor we’ve seen around New Zealand ……

Coffee cup fence at Krafty Cups in Rahotu (Taranaki)

Children’s Toy Wall in Eltham (Taranaki)  ….. the toy wall on Bridger Lane is said to have started when Fay Young found a toy car outside her property. She put the car on her garden wall so it might be found by its owner, it was never claimed.

Fay embedded the car into the wall and it started a toy story in cement that grew as children donated toys for the collection. Fay passed away in 2000, she generously … Read the rest