Tourism Waitaki - Waitaki District

Fields and the club field of Awakino, which has remained largely unchanged since its founding in the 1940’s. Both serve as popular locations for winter recreation. The largest settlement inland is Omarama, which is known as the ‘gliding capital’ of New Zealand. It hosts the Omarama Hot Tubs and the popular Geosite known as Clay Cliffs. Tourism throughout the Waitaki District is full of history, Munro explains. “Moving down the Valley to Kurow, we have an emerging boutique wine area known for its Pinot Noir, and the Waitaki Dam, which is the oldest concrete dam in the country and was handmade by pick and shovel. The next stop would be Duntroon, which has many historic areas of interest such as the Blacksmiths shop, two Māori Rock art sites, and the Vanished World Centre, which is the geological museum of the Geopark. Here you can discover your own fossil in the dig room known as Shag Point, Matakaea, where the only dinosaur fossil in the district was found; a seven-metre-long Plesiosaur. It is also home to a historic coal mine and scores of wildlife including seals and many bird species. Oamaru township is the largest settlement in Waitaki. The service settlement for the entire district during the late 1800’s, when grain and meat were primary industries, Oamaru is now also known as the Steampunk capital of New Zealand. Born out of the colonial heritage, it has the largest collection of Victorian heritage buildings, all built from Oamaru limestone. Munro elaborates, “The reason why this town has such a huge collection of limestone buildings is because when the area was settled by Europeans, there were no trees, to construct buildings from. They quickly realised there was a huge amount of limestone under the ground; much of that limestone created the beautiful Victorian buildings we see today. They had stonemasons and Victorian architects design many of the early buildings, so they’re essentially replicas of what you would see in London and Scotland during the same period.” Efforts to repair and restore buildings that were previously derelict have been spurred by the Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust, which was formed in the 1980’s. Many historic buildings in the area that are now owned by the Civic Trust have been brought back to their original condition. As a result, they have become a tourist attraction in their own right. Munro shares, “It’s a lovely story, really, about how the town was constructed using what formed naturally under the ground millions of years ago. And the Geopark is the perfect platform to bring that story back to life, so that people can see the built heritage and geological journey that Waitaki has taken.” The team at Tourism Waitaki has worked tirelessly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic to restore visitor numbers for the district. While TOUR I SM WA I TAK I – WA I TAK I DI STR I CT and view the significant collection of larger fossils that have been found in the limestone on nearby farms. There are prehistoric mammals such as shark-toothed dolphins and early baleen whales, alongside ancient turtles, and a giant penguin. It’s interesting to see and touch the life that was abundant 25 million years ago and is now being discovered just beneath our feet.” Waitaki has a significant coastal region that houses seaside settlements of Kakanui, with surfing, kai moana and long sandy beaches. Further South is Moeraki and its famous boulders, Te Kaihinaki (Geosite), the home of tangata whenua, and Kātiki Point with its lighthouse, penguin hospital and Māori Pa site. Before reaching Palmerston, which is the gateway to Central Otago and showcases goldfields with ancient volcanos, comes the Kātiki strait and five kilometres of sandy beach. That beach ends with another rocky headland