Oamaru - the town of limestone

On the tour to the coastal town of Oamaru, you can see for several kilometers before the town what it is famous for: cream-colored sandstone is being extracted here, which can be seen between the green hills in the form of steeply falling rock walls. These stones were already used at the end of the 19th century, especially in the cities of Oamaru and Dunedin, located about 50 km further south, but also throughout New Zealand, for larger and/or more representative buildings. Accordingly, the city center is characterized by some representative limestone buildings. Old bank buildings with columns, a large church, a hotel, and various other buildings shape the cityscape, almost all in good condition. What a contrast to the otherwise rather simple and sometimes poorly built wooden and corrugated iron buildings that are typical here. Really worth seeing.

But the real attraction are the old storage and commercial buildings at the harbor, which were also built of limestone. Today, there are mostly craftsmen, artists, and antique dealers here, who are mainly nicely decorated. Only the store of the old whisky distillery remains, no more distilling takes place here. The "Steam Punk", where art made from junk can be seen, looks quite strange from the outside. In the evening, we enjoyed a delicious home-brewed beer in the brewery at the harbor, with a great atmosphere, it seems to be the meeting place for the locals. The building itself is rather styleless, a modern purpose-built structure made of corrugated iron, but inside it is beautifully designed and there is also a large outdoor terrace with a view of the sea.

In addition to the city center, we also visited the 2 km distant viewpoint of Penguin Beach and took a long walk in the Public Garden Park. Actually, we saw one (1!) penguin, but only with a lot of zoom...it was probably still too early in the evening. The Public Garden, located right next to our campsite, was worth a long visit. Incredibly beautifully designed large flower beds, a rose garden, which is becoming increasingly popular in New Zealand, pond areas with water lilies, and benches to linger everywhere. Of course, everything is well maintained. Yes, the Kiwis can garden (and are probably willing to spend money on it)!

So we stayed 2 nights in this city, which is rather unknown to tourists, so it is worth making a stop, even if it is off the beaten path of the big and well-known attractions. Such discoveries are especially fun!