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oamaru
 North of Dunedin
is a fine coastal town where you can admire some of the
best-preserved and most stately commercial buildings in the
country.
Oamaru, the main town of North Otago, is a most interesting and
attractive place to visit. It has prospered through the
goldmining, quarrying, timber milling and farming eras for over a
century. As it gained wealth, the town expressed its good fortune
by erecting elegant stone buildings.
Oamaru’s Historic Precinct of well-preserved 19th century
buildings is renowned, particularly in the Harbour-Tyne Street
area. Here you will be fascinated by the variety of architectural
styles. They range from Gothic revival to neoclassical Greek and
Italian. In November each year the town comes alive for the
Heritage Celebrations, when penny-farthing bicycles race through
the streets, cheered on by locals in Victorian costume.
 The remarkable cream limestone from local quarries
has earned Oamaru the title of ‘The Whitestone City’.
It is so soft that it can be quarried with a circular saw. Once
exposed to air, it hardens and is eminently suitable for public
buildings. Elegant banks and hotels stand alongside handsome
warehouses and wool stores. Buildings in other cities have been
constructed in this distinctive stone, including the Auckland
Town Hall.
The Public Gardens have been rated as being within the top ten
gardens in the country. Features include a stunning Italian
marble fountain, a Victorian summerhouse and oriental garden,
fragrant garden, rhododendron dell, and cactus house. History,
culture and art, are well presented in the North Otago Museum and
Forrester Art Gallery. For visitors with literary interests, a
Janet Frame Trail highlights locations used in the books of this
well-known New Zealand author.
An outstanding natural attraction in Oamaru is the colony of
little blue and yellow-eyed penguins, within walking distance of
the town centre. The little blues are quite numerous and nest
around the harbour. They waddle ashore at dusk and draw large
numbers of visitors to watch their antics. The yellow-eyes are
among the world’s rarest penguin species. A hide has been
built to allow the visitor to observe their sojourns ashore, for
the purpose of feeding their chicks. This usually occurs two
hours before sunset.
The happy blending of man-made excellence, superb gardens and
natural wildlife makes Oamaru an appealing visitor destination.
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