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Oturehua (The Sun God) is another of those ‘hard to believe’ townships on the Otago Central Rail Trail. It’s hard to believe that here was the biggest construction camp on the Otago Central Railway. It’s also hard to believe that just on the outskirts of town one of the icons of New Zealand farming was developed. To this day used on millions of kilometres of farm fencing throughout New Zealand, and exported worldwide, the Hayes Permanent Wire Strainer was created and perfected inside the historic mud-brick buildings of Hayes Engineering (now owned by the Historic Places Trust.. www.historic.org.nz... and open seven days a week from 9am to 5pm December through April) by Ernest Hayes in 1927. Earlier in 1905, Ernest developed a breakthrough claw and chain fence wire strainer. The workshops, extensive grounds and grand mud-brick villa that was home to Ernest, his wife Hannah and their five sons and four daughters, are well worth visiting (2011's open operating days are on January 9, February 6, March 13 and April 24. Hayes family home open from Christmas onwards). While at Hayes it's well worth calling into the Hayes' original mudbrick house which is now occupied by a café and shop selling a wide range of merchandise.
Just across from the Oturehua Station site is another ‘hard to believe’ experience, Gilchrist’s store. This is New Zealand’s oldest continuously operating general store selling everything a Rail Trailer could want with plenty of eye candy provided by display shelves of nostalgic ‘Kiwi’ products bearing long-gone brands. Oturehua also has the Ida Burn Dam, famous for curling, and the hilltop paddock that draws motorcyclists from throughout New Zealand and overseas to the Annual Brass Monkey Motorcycle Rally. At the other end of town, it’s just a few hundred metres detour up Reef Road to visit the Golden Progress Mine. Here Central Otago’s last poppet head straddles one of numerous shafts sunk to reach elusive gold-bearing quartz rock. Unfortunately Golden Progress never delivered its investors or workers anything approaching a fortune. Oturehua is a good step off point for a visit to St Bathans, 25km by road. source: www.otagocentralrailtrail.co.nz/oturehua.html Information Centres: |
