Holmes Hill Motel

Oamaru radio station

by stargate2

You can visit many old fashion style cafe, candy shop or even a radio boardcasting station.

This is an old style radio boardcasting station located near the main street and the train station. They feature many antique radios and recorders, etc.

They played a song for us during my honeymoon while I was there!

AUSTRALIAN WALLABIES IN WAIMATE

by balhannah

As we are from Australia, we were very surprised to hear about the population of Bennett's / Red Necked wallabies living around Waimate.

They were introduced from Australia and now live in the in the countryside surrounding the town with some being farmed. Their introduction to New Zealand came about in 1870, when a Captain Thomson brought several wallabies from Tasmania to Christchurch. Two females and one male from this stock were later brought to Te Waimate the property of Waimate's first European settler Michael Studholme. Since 1874 numbers have increased dramatically, obviously, they must like living here! Their numbers are so large they are now considered as pests.

Unfortunately wallabies have also developed a taste for swede that is grown in the area, this makes them enemies of the Farmer.

At Animal parks in Waimate you can view, learn & feed tame Bennett wallabies, and you can also see them in Victoria Park in the animal enclosure.

Baby Yellows... (Browns ??)

by kenmerk

If you come to Oamaru in the summer time, you may be fortunate enough to see some babies yellow eyed penguins in the nest.

First thing you will notice is their colorings. While adults are black and white with a yellow stripe around their eyes, the babies are all brown. (they will shed this coat after the first year.)

Another interesting fact is how big they are... Usually when the baby heads out to sea for the first time, they are actually bigger (i.e. fatter) than their parents...

Must be all that YUMMY regurgitated food...

Oamaru

by iammon

"Penguin Town"

Pretty harbour town with some nice old buildings.

Blue Penguins are the mascot of the town at a really good reason to stop there and stay over night.

Do not miss the Yellow-Eyed Penguins either.

Oamaru and It's White Stone.

by kiwi

"A town with history."

New Zealand towns are not steeped in history in general. But Oamaru is one of the few where history is apparent. Mostly famous for it's white stone buildings, Oamaru was developed during the mid 19th Century boon. The surrounding prosperous rural area supported the town and life was bustling back then.
Now some of the buildings and especially the old business area of the town have been restored and returned to authentic condition.

"Oamaru Limestone Quarry."

The whitestone buildings of Oamaru had their stone taken from this quarry. Stone has been used from here since the 19th Century and is famous for it's pure creamy white colour and texture, and for it's nice handling factors. Not only do they cut buildling blocks, but many scultors like to use Oamaru stone for their work.