Category Archives: Unusual New Zealand

Unusual New Zealand

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

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

Curiously Cool in Queenstown

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Below Zero Ice Bar was a bit like a 3D New Zealand tourism brochure in ice, if you melted the polar bear. Although the polar bear’s handy for holding vodka bottles, and plenty of vodka is needed to fill the ice glasses with Perky Penguin and Chilled Kiwi cocktails.

The ice sculptures have changed since our visit, the jet boat may have gone but the gondola remains. The gondola comfortably seats two, although getting up close and personal isn’t a bad idea. After 30 minutes or so in Below Zero you’ll feel the cold begin to creep under the standard … Read the rest

Taking a shine to Hokitika

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There are a list of reasons why I took a shine to Hokitika ………

Shining Star beachfront accommodation – It was camping with the animals that appealed to me – Highland cattle, alpacas, ducks, and a goat. A visiting free range rabbit made it an Old MacDonald’s Farm of sorts without the noisy sound track. We parked the caravan on a grassy site but there’s also log style accommodation (some of it beachfront).

A beach to yourself – Shining Star is next to a driftwood strewn beach that you may get to yourself, particularly in moody weather. The town sits … Read the rest

Cheese rollin’, rollin’, rollin’, rollin’

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*Eltham Cheese Day is now a biennial event – cheese will be rolling again in 2017*

Limp Bizkit sing it slightly differently but cheese will again be rollin’ at the Eltham Downhill Cheese Race on Saturday, April 6 2013.

Watch surefooted souls chase a cheese wheel down Cheese Hill. Those who make it can buy an “I Survived” t-shirt, and those with fast feet will take home a cheese wedge trophy.

In 2012 boys in blue raced against a Santa who forgot the spirit of Christmas and ran off with the cheese – toward a getaway car full of crackers? … Read the rest