Abandoned, ghosts, spooky places New Zealand does not need ancient ruins with plenty of places to visit to add a touch of drama to your holiday.
New Zealand delivers old abandoned villages where people’s lives are now grassy mounds.
Opepe Reserve is one of the ten best walks in the Bay of Plenty, North Island and the site of a significant village (Maori pa). Everyone is now relaxing on the white sandy Opepe beach while the hilltop and its buried inhabitants watch in silence.
New Zealand’s Pompeii, a village buried under the ash and pyroclastic flow of the 1886 Mt Tarawera volcanic eruption. The eruption ended the lives of over 120 people. The sheer terror of a volcanic eruption is forceful. New Zealand’s Pompeii is not ancient; rather it is yesterday’s news with a photographer capturing the sheer horror. Catastrophe always makes for a great tourist attraction.
Cemeteries – where the bodies are buried
Intrepid 19th century gold miners, prospectors with their forgotten graves, communities that have disappeared with the only physical evidence is an overgrown cemetery. When I’m exploring a cemetery I watch where I walk. There is something oddly disconcerting about walking on someone’s grave. You feel as though you are intruding on their personal physical space.
Nineteenth century Anglican sector, Waikumete cemetery, Auckland, New Zealand
Cemetery grave view, Waikumete cemetery, Auckland, New Zealand
- Cemeteries of New Zealand – Best Bits
- Cemeteries Central Otago: trip attractions, things to see – Best Bits
- Auckland cemeteries where to go and what to see – Best Bits
- West Coast ghosts – Best Bits
Jewish cleansing shed, Waikumete cemetery, Auckland, New Zealand
Jewish sector, Waikumete cemetery, Auckland, New Zealand
Abandoned places
No one is at home, the door is swinging ajar. The place is derelict and abandoned. You hesitate to enter, you wonder if you will find a decaying body or ghosts
Abandoned gold mine Waiuta, West Coast, NZ
Waiuta Top Road building reamins of the old Police Station, one of the town's first buildings, New Zealand
- 8 Off The Beaten Track Places – Best Bits
- https://nzjane.com/abandoned-ghost-towns/ (needs name OHURA) to be added to URL
- Denniston Plateau & Millerton: abandoned coal mining towns
- Waiuta Things To Do & Places To See
- What’s so great about Blackwater
Blackwater School, closed, near Waiuta, West Coast, South Island, NZ
Denniston Plateau plaques, New Zealand
Ghosts, spooky places
- Images, ghosts, abandoned objects, the art of decay – Best Bits
- Quirky Facts About New Zealand – Best Bits
- 12 odd, strange, peculiar New Zealand stories
- 8 Off The Beaten Track Places – Best Bits
- Port Chalmers heritage trail, where to go and what to see – Best Bits
- Dunedin historic prison things to do – Best Bits
- Whanganui Bridge to Nowhere things to do – Best Bits
An early morning photo of a canoe on the bank of the Whanganui river, New Zealand
The downtown of Port Chalmers, the suburb of Dunedin city (New Zealand)
Pandemics
Matiu Somes Island aerial view, New Zealand
Historic water tower on Motuihe Island, Hauraki Gulf, Auckland, New Zealand
Images
The art of decay, image ‘library’
Kaipara River abandoned wharf for sale, Northland
The Forgotten World Highway in the town of Whangamomona, New Zealand
Our series of odd, fascinating & unusual places in New Zealand
- Wellington unusual, odd or fascinating things to do – Best Bits
- Christchurch the odd, the unusual and fascinating – Best Bits
- Dunedin, the odd, unusual, fascinating and weird things to do – Best Bits
- Tauranga the odd, unusual and fascinating things to do – Best Bits
- Auckland, the odd, unusual and fascinating things to do – Best Bits
- Taupo, odd, unusual places worth a detour – Best Bits
- Waikato quirky cool collections, oddities, museums places to go – Best Bits
- Waikato: the odd, unusual, fascinating and quirky – Best Bits
Wellington Bolton Street cemetery Two jewish tombs, from 1840 to 1892, New Zealand
A carved gateway at the site of the Battle of Gate Pa (1864) in Tauranga New Zealand, depicting Tu and Rongo, the Maori gods of war and peace
BEST BITS TRAVEL GUIDE
Best Bits travel guide is published by nzjane.com. Owned and managed by PacificJane Ltd.
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