Rural Art Deco Of Ranfurley

For reasons of weather, or rather our interpretations of New Zealand weather forecasts (we have since learned to disregard them), we decided to head back inland, to Wanaka, near Mt. Aspiring and more of the mountains, a place we had much enjoyed in 2009. We had seen all the east coast from Dunedin south, all the way to Invercargill, and, though it is spectacular in places, we didn't need to see it again.

Our route took us through tiny Ranfurley, deep in livestock country (two veterinarians!), picturesque if a bit stark, and reminiscent of some of the hamlets and villages of central and eastern Montana I once knew. Bigger than Two Dot is Ranfurley, though not nearly as big as White Sulphur Springs. But Ranfurley has a claim to fame apart from its location and commerce: it is the center of New Zealand's rural art deco scene. Seriously. There are just the two art deco buildings in Ranfurley, the Milk Bar and the hotel, but they are the real deal, and the Milk Bar's collection is as amusing as it is impressive. They even have an annual rural art deco festival in Ranfurley. I'll just let the pix say what I mean.

YEPs Of Katiki Point

Yellow-eyed penguins. Lighthouse-keepers of yore nurtured a colony of the rare birds, and the Department of Conservation has taken over, providing a blind for visitors to use to view them. We did this sort of thing five years ago, on the south coast, watching the birds swim onto the shore, pause a bit to acclimate, and then head for their nests to feed their mates and young. Still a thrill to see them in the wild!

Seals everywhere...no blind needed

Hard night's day

It's early, only 5:30, but some are coming ashore...we're in
luck

Thus

And thus

And thus

Moeraki Lighthouse...all in all, it was a pretty good day...
rock art, Oamaru, Moeraki Boulders, and YEPs...we drove
a bit further on, to Palmerston South, and spent the night
in a motel there

Moeraki Boulders

The Moeraki Boulders are large spherical concretions littering the low-tide beach near Kaiki Point, between Oamaru and Dunedin. They began forming some 55 million years ago--lime has something to do with it--and are appearing now due to the general uplift of the islands and local erosion. They look like so many giant marbles scattered around on the beach, many more than meter in diameter, and they apparently elicit strange behaviors on the parts of some visitors.

Oamaru

For us, the chief attraction of Oamaru was its limestone architecture--some interesting neo-classical stuff--but we found much else of interest too. Oamaru is on the east coast of the South Island, about half-way down, an older colonial settlement but with much earlier Maori habitation too. We walked about for an hour or two, then moved on, before I was really ready. The old time and tide thing, and the Moeraki Boulders...

The local limestone--Oamaru stone--lent itself to architects,
builders, sculptors, and others in the latter 19th century

Library

Interesting inscription

Forests of acanthus leaves...lots of the buildings had
Corinthian columns

Thus

More ornate limestone

More than a few of the Oamaruvians (!) were of interest
too

Here we learned much about the advanced state of home-
brewing and -distilling in New Zealand

Thus

But Steampunk (look it up) was our real
discovery in Oamaru ("that's news to me"
department)

Thus

And thus

Very interesting little town...but we didn't want to miss the
boulders at low tide, and had to move on...

Takiroa Rock Art

Next morning we continued southeast toward the coast and Oamaru (not Omarama), stopping to examine the Maori rock art at Takiroa. OK, it's not Lascaux, and certainly not very old, but nonetheless interesting. After ascertaining there was no cafe nor gift shoppe, we drove on.

Limestone cliff now; we'll see much more limestone in Oamaru

Bird (on left)

Sea serpent

Your guess...

See below for interpretation

More reminiscent of the rock art we saw in Scandinavia...but
much younger

Clay Cliffs of Omarama

We drove on from Mt. Cook, south, through Twizel (not as in Twizzlers), stopping at the so-called Clay Cliffs, on the Ahuriri River. The Clay Cliffs are billed as similar to the American Badlands. They are indeed similar, if quite limited in extent. Sensing that there would be no Wall Drug nor jackalopes, not even a Corn Palace, not even a rattlesnake, we snapped a few pix and drove on, camping at a free DOC site on the river.

The beautiful, clear, fast-flowing Ahuriri--there are browns
and rainbows in them thar waters

Clay Cliffs

Closer up

Ditto