Omakau
Destination
The story behind Omakau is quite amusing. Originally the main town of the area was Ophir, some 2km up the road. However, it was deemed too expensive to build the bridge that would be required across the Manuherikia River so up sprung Omakau.
By the time the railway reached Omakau in 1904 over 400 residents provided a host of services to those building the railway. Unfortunately, the station site is somewhat neglected now, but at one stage in the 1960’s, this was one of New Zealand’s busiest stations for live-stock, loading as much 120,000 animals per year.
From Omakau it is only a short 2km ride along the Omakau-Ida Valley Road up to the magical town of Ophir and highly recommended. For those with a bit more energy you can ride in the other direction along Naylor road for about 10km up to the Matakanui ghost town and gold tailings. Once a busting gold town Matakanui is only an eery shell now. Just as you leave Omakau on Naylor Road there is a large Catholic Church well worth a visit.
