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Hot in summer and cold in winter, Ophir in July 1995 recorded New Zealand's lowest ever temperature of minus 21°C.
Quaint and historic are descriptions that spring to mind on turning off the Omakau-Ida Valley Road at the distinctive art deco Blacks Hotel. A flat 2km ride on smooth tarmac from the Rail Trail at Omakau, there are a number of very good accommodation options for overnighting or staying longer in Ophir.
Originally the township was known as Blacks, after the Black brothers on whose farm gold was discovered in 1863. In 1875, however, Otago’s then Superintendent, James Macandrew, declared the settlement to be Ophir, honouring the biblical land where the Queen of Sheba obtained gold for King Solomon.
Ophir was never that rich, but until bypassed by the Otago Central Railway it was the Manuherikia Valley’s main population centre. Which explains the substantial buildings like the village hall and the stone post office built in1886 and now owned by the Historic Places Trust. The Ophir courthouse was built to the same specifications as the one in Alexandra, which is now a DOC reserve.
A walk along the main street passes the policeman’s house and gaol (restored by the local community), cottage hospital, bank, dress shop, the bakery and, south of town, spanning Manuherikia River, the Daniel O'Connell Bridge. One of the last surviving suspension bridges in Central Otago it was built in 1880 and named after a nineteenth century political leader; recognising the many Irish settlers living in and around Ophir. The round trip from Omakau through Ophir then over the Daniel O’Connell Bridge and onto Highway 85 to back to where you started in Omakau by the Rail Trail is about 6km easy cycling or walking.
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The Daniel O’Connell Bridge at Ophir is well worth the side trip from the Rail Trail at Omakau
Photo: Matthew Sole |
Ophir’s main street boasts many historic buildings including the drapery store in the foreground and cottage hospital a few metres along the road
Photo: A.Higgie |
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A favourite subject for photographers, the Post Office building at Ophir
Photo: A.Higgie |
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