{"id":8495,"date":"2011-09-25T06:30:54","date_gmt":"2011-09-24T17:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=8495"},"modified":"2011-09-24T12:24:53","modified_gmt":"2011-09-24T00:24:53","slug":"steampunk-oamaru","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2011\/09\/25\/steampunk-oamaru\/","title":{"rendered":"Steampunk Oamaru"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Thursday, I featured an interview<\/strong><\/a> with Pip Ballantine<\/strong> and Tee Morris<\/strong>, co-authors of the steampunk novel, Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

(And by the way, the giveaway<\/strong> for that interview will run until midnight today<\/span>, NZ time—just post a comment on the interview, here<\/strong><\/a>, to be in the draw.)<\/p>\n

In the interview, I described the steampunk subgenre of SFF as “… speculative fiction … that draws on an alternate 19th century milieu, effectively imagining continuation of the mechanical age.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

An Invitation to Discover Steampunk Oamaru<\/p><\/div>\n

Pip Ballantine, like Phoenix Rising<\/strong><\/em> heroine Eliza D Braun, is a New Zealander—so it may come as no surprise to learn that New Zealand has its very 19th century milieu where speculative continuation of the mechanical age is celebrated. Yes, I am talking about “steampunk Oamaru”<\/strong> aka “Whitestone Oamaru.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can find out more about Steampunk Oamaru<\/strong> at Steampunk HQ here<\/strong><\/a> and check out The League of Victorian Imagineers<\/strong> (don’t you just love that name?), here<\/strong><\/a>, including the forthcoming 2011 Tomorrow As It Used To Be<\/strong><\/em> exhibition, here<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0 and the Steampunk Short Film Festival.<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

And <\/em>there was a steampunk Fashion Show & Gala Ball<\/strong><\/a> earlier in the year (and again next year, I’m sure!)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Entering Historic Oamaru<\/p><\/div>\n

Just for a bit of background—why did I say “aka Whitestone Oamaru?”<\/strong> Although in fact, I could equally well have said: Victorian Oamaru<\/strong><\/a>, or Historic Oamaru<\/strong><\/a> because the small seaside city of Oamaru contains New Zealand’s most intact Victorian precinct, characterised not just by individual buildings, but a small area of intact streetscapes. And the “whitestone?” That’s because from highly decorated Victorian bank facades, through pubs, to wool and grain stores, these buildings are all constructed from the local “whitestone”—limestone that is quarried from near the town.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Inside the Victorian precinct<\/p><\/div>\n

Over the past 25 years, The Whitestone Civic Trust<\/a>, together with the Waitaki District Council,\u00a0 has done tremendous work, not just to preserve the precinct but also to create a thriving Victorian “town at work” within it, a wonderful Heritage Week celebration<\/a>—check out the Penny Farthing races<\/strong> here<\/a>—and now the spinoff celebration of steampunk. What’s there to say, except that it’s all good!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Wild Oamaru<\/p><\/div>\n

Oamaru’s not just<\/em> about heritage though—there’s little blue penguins<\/a> to be seen in the evenings, nearby Moeraki<\/a> with its famous boulders— and also Fleur’s Place<\/a> for great food ambience—and the Forrester Art Gallery<\/a> which always has some very good exhibitions to see.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

... & "I'm a film star"<\/p><\/div>\n

In fact, Historic Oamaru is an all round good place to visit—even without the steampunk. I love it, but I have to admit that the steampunk adds just that extra touch of fun!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Thursday, I featured an interview with Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris, co-authors of the steampunk novel, Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel. (And by the way, the giveaway for that interview will run until midnight today, NZ time—just post a comment on the interview, here, to be in the draw.) In the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-funstuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8495"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8524,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8495\/revisions\/8524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}