Author: Ethan Gannett

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Weird New Zealand

Steampunk Headquarters at Oamaru

As promised, this is a collection of some of the offbeat, weird, and downright mysterious oddities in New Zealand.  There is something in here for everyone, but let’s start with the capital of weird, but ever so glorious in its Victorian beauty, Oamaru.

Oamaru

Oamaru struck it rich in a gold rush in the 1850’s.  A sudden influx of people and money caused the little western port city to grow quickly, and the local white stone buildings where designed in the best Victorian style.  But as soon as the gold rush started, it ended, people left the town, the Victorian buildings stood empty. It was a testament to the era and the craftsmanship that the block of historic buildings stood the test of time, not until the early 1900’s did the city begin to come back to life.  Soon artisans replaced the dock workers and gold miners to bring a whole new element to the sleepy little city.

The white stone Victorian block at Oamaru

These artisans brought a unique flare to the city. Anchoring one end of the Victorian block is Steampunk Headquarters.  It is as you would expect it to be, a fabulous building filled with fantastical monstrosities imagining a completely different technology timetable.  The outside of the building is festooned with a full size functioning steampunk train engine, a dirigible, and a curious fellow fishing off the top of the building with a gigantic hook.  Inside, if you take the tour, is some of the most imaginative works of art, many moving sculptures and a bizarre light room that will leave you floating in space.

Now that’s a big wheel bike! A sculpture at the beachfront park at Oamaru
Tree sculptures, apparently carved straight out of the tree trunk, owls, seal, and pelicans from front to back.

Oamaru is also where the Alps 2 Ocean bike trail ends.  One can ride a 190 mile path from Mt. Cook all the way to Oamaru, literally alps to ocean. Downtown besides the Victorian block of artisans, there is a brewery with great ciders and some fantastic parks with amazing sculptures. Finally, this is where you can see the blue penguins (see Fauna of New Zealand) come out to roost at night on the beach, definitely a sight to see. Oamaru should be on your list of places to visit when in New Zealand.

The end of the Alps 2 Ocean bike trail, framing the port at Oamaru
Some colorful beers and ciders at the downtown brewery
A blue penguin waiting on his buddies

Moeraki Boulders

Just up the road from Oamaru are some of the most bizarre spherical rocks you may ever see.  Reminiscent of the rock spheres of Costa Rica, the Moeraki Boulders do not appear to be carved, but instead are completely naturally.  Seemingly birthed from the ocean side cliff face, these five to six foot round boulders sit along the beach in various groupings, some broken open to reveal the geode-like crystals inside.  They are concretions, the process of crystallizing mudstone, but I like to think of them as Cocoon rocks (remember the movie)?

A Moeraki Boulder emerging from the cliff face
Hmm, is it….hatching?
Shh, something is alive inside and trying to get out!
Oh my God, where did it go?
Uh, if I were you I wouldn’t put your hand in there.
Oh my goodness, they are everywhere! Run for your lives!

Pancake Rocks

Near Punakaiki are the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes, like thousands of stacked grey pancakes, these ocean side rock spires look alien, but even more fun is the crashing ocean waves coming ashore that have blown holes in the fissures in the rock allowing for blowholes at high tide to delight the visitor.

Pancake rocks
Blowholes
Panorama of Pancake Rocks

Finally below we have some one-off oddities, described in the captions for each of the pictures.

Fox Glacier: Apparently there is Sasquatch in New Zealand. The food here, not so good, I kept getting long hairs in the food from the really tall chef!
Fox Glacier: The remnants from a gold dredge bucket line. If you watch Gold Rush you will recognize this.
Fox Glacier: Possum are non-indigenous to New Zealand. Brought to the islands long ago, New Zealand is doing everything they can to rid themselves of the scourge by selling all sorts of items made out of Possum fur. Go figure!
Queenstown: Bungy jumping from the Kawarau bridge, the rope is stretched out and you can see the recovery raft at the bottom. No, we didn’t. There was a 72 year old man that did it for free while we were watching.
Hamner Springs: I normally don’t take pictures of my food, but the presentation on this dumpling dish was exquisite. Meat pies and dumplings are big in New Zealand. This place specialized in only dumplings from around the world.
Christchurch: Infinite stairway to heaven a the botanical center. I just wish the little ducks were further up the staircase to make the illusion even better!
Christchurch: Part of the magnetic observatory that Scott used to calibrate his instruments before his expeditions in Antarctica. Christchurch is the jumping off point for flights to the bases on Antarctica, in fact we met a cook for one of the remote bases going in for the summer.
Nelson: The wind on the beach created shifting patterns in the sand. Suzie is way off in the distance.
Nelson: The cathedral at Nelson was partially demolished in a recent earthquake, but the inside was still pretty.
Nelson: South street has been restored to its Victorian era looks.
Nelson: Another view down the block of South Street
Nelson: A rugby ball made out of vines at one of the local vineyards
Oamaru: There are Maori petroglyphs throughout the island. Here’s a man on a horse. Remember unlike our Petroglyphs, these are only 150 years old.
Lake Tekapo: Rocks stand in attention on the beach as they all look at the view of Mt. Cook.
Abel Tasman National Park: This is Split Apple Rock. We kayaked out to it and around it and then hung out on the nearby beach. Here’s a secret, its more pear-shaped then apple-shaped! Still cool to see though.

As usual, leave your comments and feedback below. Kia ora!