Steampunk HQ in Oamaru

An hour and a half's drive north of Dunedin lies the town of Oamaru, a smallish town housing a population of around 24,000. As a tourist destination you'll discover a uniquely preserved Victorian a small colony of Blue Penguins (same species as the Little Penguins we have in Australia) and a colony of New Zealand Fur Seals.

Oamaru also has the most perfectly preserved Victorian era architecture, protected in a compact tourist precinct. These buildings are evidence to the region's wealth, created in the 19th century from wool, grain and frozen meat exports. It's now very much a tourist attraction - most of the buildings host pubs, bars, cafes, art exhibitions, wool products and more. At the northern end of the precinct you'll find the Steampunk Museum, a curious collection of found objects often cleverly fashioned into something you might see in a science fiction movie. Oamaru has become the self claimed Steampunk capital of New Zealand - which explains why there's so much seemingly abandoned and rusting metal positioned around the precinct.

Meanwhile at Steampunk HQ

Meanwhile, be careful not to trip over the odd rusting railway engines!