Naseby – a picturesque small town, a beautiful, peaceful spot in the Maniototo area of Central Otago, New Zealand.
We had the pleasure of calling Naseby home for nine years and loved living there. It is an amazing place, a great lifestyle and wonderful people. The winters were hard at times, one year we had snow on the ground for about 8 weeks!! We would regularly get -10 degrees C frosts and beautiful clear days. The sun would melt the top layer of the snow and the frost would freeze it again, resulting in ice! We kept the drive of our house clear of snow and the local guys did an amazing job of keeping the local and main roads clear.
Naseby is one of New Zealand’s principal curling venues, this is great fun and not as cold and slippery as outdoor curling. The town also has the Southern hemisphere’s only ice luge track (400m long).
The Mount Ida Water Race offers great walking and mountain biking, suitable for all levels but probably not in the snow. It can be accessed from any number of points around Nasbey (including Coalpit Dam, Hoffman’s Dam, and the swimming dam). There are also numerous forestry tracks for walking and biking as well as the Museum etc. The information center is a good place to start.
The Mount Ida Water Race was opened in 1877 to bring water to the mining operations near Naseby, and today brings water for agriculture and other uses.
An important township during the gold rush of the 1860s, some of the town has been preserved from this time. At its peak, the population of the town was close to 4,000 , the museum gives a glimpse into Naseby’s history. The permanent population (of approx 120) swells during the summer, it’s a great place for a holiday and a very popular family holiday destination.
The nearest is town, Ranfurly, 15 kilometres away.
Watch soon for a post showing Naseby/Maniototo’s blue skies and sunny days 🙂
Coal pit Dam
Hoffman’s Dam
The bridge over the water race to Hoffman’s Dam
Maniototo
Have to have a drive around and see how deep the snow is 🙂
Curling – great fun!!
I came home to find the drive and everything else completely covered in snow.
Graham was in Dunedin do I had to dig out a space for the truck at the bottom of the drive.
It was getting dark by the time I finished
Snow slipping off the roof at the back of the house.
This is what you get when the snow slips off the roof of the verandah and on to the deck
Oughter Street – looking towards Welcome Hill
The Royal Hotel
Looking up Leven Street towards the shop and Ancient Briton Hotel
Earne Street, showing the Museum and the Royal Hotel.
Looking back down Earne St
offthemainroadnz.com 