Things to Do in Ranfurly & the Maniatoto

This is our corner of Central Otago — the small towns strung along SH85 and the Otago Central Rail Trail, where the landscape does most of the talking. Whether you're passing through for twenty minutes or staying the weekend, here's what's worth stopping for, town by town.

Ranfurly

Ranfurly is the heart of the Otago Central Rail Trail — from here you can day-trip out and back on the trail in either direction, making it a natural base rather than just a pass-through stop. Gravel bike riding has also become hugely popular in the district, with plenty of riders using Ranfurly as their starting point for longer rides beyond the trail itself.

Ranfurly is New Zealand's Rural Art Deco Centre — much of the main street was rebuilt in Art Deco style after a run of suspicious fires in the 1930s, and it's stayed that way since.

Historic Railway Station — now the Ranfurly Visitor Information Centre, with a display on the 1943 Hyde train disaster.
Centennial Milk Bar / Art Deco Museum — next to the old station, holding one of the best small displays of 1930s Art Deco anywhere in the country. Once the spot where train passengers grabbed a treat during station stops.

This landscape lent its name to the Ranfurly piece in our Maniatoto Landmarks Collection →

Ranfurly's also home to a small cluster of local makers and shops worth ducking into: Lohi Linen and The Thirsty Moa (that's us — handmade linen, French press coffee, and a wine bar under one roof), Bizarre Affair (secondhand and collectables, with a rotating gallery of young local artists), and Janyne Fletcher Photographer, whose fine art landscape photography captures this same country. Janyne's written her own guide to a day out in town — well worth a read alongside this one.

Patearoa

A tiny settlement a short drive from Ranfurly, worth the detour for its makers and a quiet riverside walk.

Dyke's Dam / Sowburn Walkway — a short, easy walking track tracing part of Patearoa's original settlement history (the town was once known as Sowburn).

This landscape lent its name to the Patearoa piece in our Maniatoto Landmarks Collection →

Patearoa punches well above its size for makers: Bunny Lane Lavender (lavender oil, soap, candles and dried bunches, opposite the pub), Pebble Pottery (Anna's hand-thrown, hand-painted homewares), and The Patearoa Honey Company (small-batch clover honey from the surrounding country).

Naseby

Naseby was bypassed by the railway in favour of Ranfurly, which is exactly why it's kept its wild-west, gold-rush character intact.

Maniototo Adventure Park — the Southern Hemisphere's only dedicated indoor curling rink, plus ice skating, ice hockey, and two luge rides (a winter ice luge and a year-round forest luge).
Naseby Forest Trails — around 52km of free mountain biking trails through the pine forest, suited to all levels.
Naseby Dark Sky — New Zealand's first International Dark Sky Community. Guided night-sky tours run with a local astrophysicist — genuinely one of the best stargazing spots you'll find.
Historic buildings — the town's gold-mining-era streetscape is still largely intact; the Early Settlers Museum holds much of the district's history.

This landscape lent its name to the Naseby piece in our Maniatoto Landmarks Collection →

Stardust Gallery, housed in a restored 1865 stables building, is worth a stop for landscape and night-sky photography.

Oturehua

Oturehua was originally known as Rough Ridge — a name that's stuck around in local use even after the town's official name changed.

Gilchrist's General Store — New Zealand's oldest continuously operating general store, still much as it was when it opened around 1899 — original telephone exchange, antique bacon slicer, and period tins alongside everyday goods.
Hayes Engineering Works & Homestead — established 1895 by Ernest Hayes, inventor of the wire strainer still used on farms today. Self-guided tours take in the original workshop and 1920s mudbrick homestead.

This landscape lent its name to the Rough Ridge piece in our Maniatoto Landmarks Collection →

Kyeburn

In 2019, a local man swimming his dogs in the Kyeburn riverbed discovered a trackway of ancient moa footprints, thought to be around 3.6 million years old. The footprints themselves were carefully excavated and are now held at the Otago Museum in Dunedin — but an interpretive sign marking the discovery was unveiled at the site itself in April 2026, so there's now something to actually see and photograph where it all happened.

St Bathans

Once home to around 2,000 gold miners, St Bathans has just one surviving pub from a town that used to have thirteen.

Vulcan Hotel — a mud-brick hotel dating from the 1880s, known for its resident-ghost stories. Meals, drinks, and accommodation available.
Blue Lake — a striking, mineral-blue lake formed when decades of gold sluicing (1864–1934) turned a 120m hill into a flooded pit. A popular swimming spot in summer.
Gold mining history — surviving buildings include the 1882 Anglican church and 1909 post office, alongside the hillside cemetery.

This landscape lent its name to the Blue Lake piece in our Maniatoto Landmarks Collection → — St Bathans itself has two pieces named for it too, worth a mention here as well.

Wedderburn

Historic railway stop — Wedderburn's original station building and its "big green goods shed" were made famous by Central Otago artist Grahame Sydney's 1975 painting "July on the Maniatoto." The shed was once relocated, then returned to its original site after a local campaign.

Hamiltons

Hamiltons Cemetery — the last visible trace of a gold mining town that once had around 4,000 residents. Today only the restored cemetery and old mining scars remain, reached via Hamiltons Diggings Road. Note: the access road is unsealed and can be rough going after rain, so it's worth checking conditions before heading out.

More Than a Drive Through

Every one of these towns has its own story — and at Lohi Linen, several of our garments are named after the exact landscapes on this list. If a place on this page has stuck with you, there's a good chance we've already tried to capture it in linen.

Explore the Maniatoto Landmarks Collection at lohilinen.com →