Oamaru was on the list of places to visit while we were down south so one morning we drove south to check out the steampunk capital of New Zealand. Our first stop, naturally enough, was at Steampunk HQ. It was simple enough to recognise where we were going, there aren’t many buildings with a strange smoke and flame emitting steam engine seeming to launch into the air sitting out front. The bearded and tattooed proprietor was friendly and a good salesperson. For $2 inserted the train would come to life with a huff and puff and screech of its steam powered engine and Alayna got to see it a couple of times due to the proprietor dipping into his pocket for a coin. Inside there was a array of displays and outlandish items to be seen. Flashing lights, angular sculptures constructed out of spare parts, a magical pipe organ that played unexpected and odd noises and various other strange and wonderful pieces.
In the yard out the back were more sights, here mostly of the mechanical and slowly rusting variety. I don’t think Alayna knew quite what to make of it all, everything outside her experience or normality. That said there was still time for some playful portraits.
We wanted to head to playground so Alayna could have some play time and through some random zen navigation managed to drive straight to the steampunk themed playground. Sliding, swinging, climbing and running around were the order of the day for a while.
For lunch we took a recommendation and drove a short way out of Oamaru to the Riverstone Kitchen, home of good food and a wonderful sprawling playground (not to mention the bonkers castle being built in the middle of a moat next to the kitchen grounds). After some initial issues with service we were soon very impressed by the speed of our food arriving, the quality of the food and general atmosphere. Once we’d eaten there was plenty of time to wander the grounds checking out the shops, gardens and peacocks and also following Alayna as she spent time in the playground and running around the large wooden fort. I don’t think we’d be able to visit Oamaru again without stopping here again.
Wowsers, who would have thought, Oamaru eh?
Sounds like an awesome trip, going to have to revisit all this when planning our visit next year.