Oamaru Travel Guide

North Otago Museum in a former bank building in central Oamaru is the museum of the town and district. Collections cover Maori settlement, 19th-century immigration and Oamaru's limestone-building history, plus Victorian domestic and commercial exhibits; art and local-history shows rotate, admission is free — the starting point for the 'Whitestone City' story.

Steampunk HQ sits in the Victorian quarter of Oamaru on New Zealand's South Island and is a small, creative museum devoted to steampunk. Inside are many installations and sculptures assembled from metal, gears and mechanical parts, strange and imaginative in style, and some exhibits can be operated by hand, making the visit good fun. Because Oamaru preserves rows of nineteenth-century limestone buildings, it is known as New Zealand's Victorian town and has developed a steampunk culture, with a related festival held each year. The museum is small and can be seen in about half an hour to an hour, an easy stop while wandering the old town.