History a stone's throw away

Greek-style bank buildings add to Oamaru's character. Pictures / Jenny Haworth

Every spring, Oamaru steps back in time to an era when the town was a flourishing wool port and the wealthy pastoralists strode the land like kings. The wealth gleaned from the back of sheep has left it with a wonderful collection of heritage buildings which are the setting for five days of glorious re-enactments.

Much of the activity occurs in Thames St, with its gracious Greek-style bank and public buildings (one is now the Forrester Art Gallery), or in the historic port area in a collection of white stone warehouses and pubs.

Built from Oamaru's famous white limestone, they have been cleaned and polished until they glow.

Visitors who want to take part must dress up. Already, I have passed several "ladies" in crinolines and "gentlemen" in elegant frock coats and top hats. In my travelling jeans, I feel out of place.

I hurry into the Victorian Wardrobe in the North Otago Museum, where I have booked a rose-pink creation with a bustle. It is a struggle to do up the hooks and eyes and arrange the skirt but, once on, the dress looks as if it was made for me. I am relieved I don't need a corset or tight camisole, though I must wear a hat. The wardrobe mistress finds something wide-brimmed and crowded with flowers. She whispers: "A hat is to be worn at all times, although a small hat or no hat is permissible if the lady carries a parasol."

I wander outside to watch the fleet of penny-farthings arrive after completing a round trip from Queenstown through Invercargill. The riders look amazingly confident on their ungainly craft.

Not all the people surrounding me are "ladies" and "gentlemen". Among them are swaggers and ruffians newly arrived from the Central Otago goldfields, women of the town, housewives, shopkeepers and servants. Locals often have several outfits and dress appropriately for the function they are to attend.

The main street has many attractive shop windows, most displaying their wares in a way appropriate to the period.

First stop is the Early Settlers' Hall where they offer a glass of Madeira with Madeira cake. Such refreshments are allowed, but I suspect the rougher pubs at the port were no place for a lady.

We have afternoon tea at the Oamaru Gardens, where the tea is poured from an elegant silver pot and we are offered cucumber sandwiches. A string quartet plays quietly in the background while I try out croquet.

After freshening up I'm off to the glamour event of the week, the Victorian Heritage Ball.

We are told: "When attending the ball, gentlemen must approach the lady to fill in her dance programme. On no account may a lady approach a gentleman."

Somewhere from my past I dredge up memories of how to waltz, foxtrot and military two-step. In between dances I admire the elegant ball gowns.

The Grand Victorian street parade is held on Saturday morning, with penny-farthings, big bands, street dancers and a party of clowns in red striped costumes entertaining everyone with their antics on stilts.

Sunday's highlight is the Victorian fete, held in the historic precinct among the old warehouses and pubs, with clowns, buskers and musicians.

It's also a chance to check out shops and market stalls crammed with antiques and memorabilia of a bygone age, as well as the works of local craftspeople.

Among them is Bill Blair who makes vintage wooden tools using traditional techniques. Much of what he produces are old hand tools: hay rakes, besom (twig) brooms, pitchforks and grain shovels.

Another is Heather Jennings, who specialises in olive spoons with small holes in them for draining the oil.

Oamaru offers a taste of New Zealand's Victorian heritage all year round. The first frozen carcasses sent to Britain were processed for export at Totara Estate in 1882. Owned by the Historic Places Trust, the estate is constantly expanding to tell more of its story, and in the past year the slaughterhouse has been reconstructed on top of the original floor.

A new audiovisual explains how the butchers of the day prepared carcasses, while other displays offer a reminder of just how important this development was for New Zealand.

Kuriheka Homestead was the home of Colonel Joseph Nichols, head of the Otago Mounted Rifles Brigade. It remains in family hands and still houses his amazing collection of military memorabilia

The house presents a well-rounded picture of these pastoralists and showed how they had the money and time to develop special interests.

Burnside, the elegant home of the Reads of Elderslie, is a great place for high tea. It's famous for its octagonally-shaped hall from which comfortable lounges and a dining room open. I nibbled at my sandwiches and cakes while enjoying the garden and listening to the music of Ralph Sherwood.

That evening featured a screening of An Angel at My Table, the story of Janet Frame who spent much of her early life in Oamaru.

North Otago Museum - the Athenaeum when she was young - recalls her excitement when she won a library subscription there. She fictionalised this in Faces in the Water, writing of "a sharp-tongued librarian who sat behind a grille dispensing tickets and fines and books and keeping her eye on the adjoining Reading Room where all men sat petrified by the SILENCE notices."

If you want to stay in the style of the times then Pen-y-bryn and Tokarahi each offer a Victorian experience.

Tokarahi, 35 minutes' drive inland from Oamaru, was built in 1888 by the wool baron Alexander McMaster. New owners Mike and Lynn Gray have lovingly restored it with Victorian decor and antiques.

Pen-y-bryn was built as a home for town merchant Robert Bulleids. It is thought to be the largest wooden house in the South Island and is elegantly furnished with antiques. The houses, like Oamaru itself, are a giant time machine taking you back to a slower age when sheep, not cars, were king.