Ranfurly

Ranfurly is a small service town in the middle of the Maniototo plain, and its art deco is an accident of misfortune: a series of fires through the 1930s destroyed much of the commercial centre, and it was rebuilt in the style of the day, so a farming town of a few hundred people has a concentration of deco shopfronts, a hotel and a former milk bar that would look at home in a much larger place. For years the town leaned into it with an annual Art Deco festival in February. The other reason people are here is the Otago Central Rail Trail, which passes through - Ranfurly is roughly the midpoint of the 152-kilometre route and a common overnight stop, with the old railway station now an information centre and small museum. The Maniototo around it is dry, wide and very cold in winter, and the Naseby forest and St Bathans are a short drive north.

History

The town was first called Eweburn, one of the "farmyard" names the Otago chief surveyor John Turnbull Thomson gave to places in the district, and was renamed after the fifth Earl of Ranfurly, governor from 1897 to 1904. It grew at Naseby's expense after the railway arrived in 1898, and a building boom in the 1930s left its Art Deco buildings (Wikipedia, Ranfurly, New Zealand).

The main sights

• The deco shopfronts - rebuilt after the 1930s fires.
• The old railway station - now the information centre and museum.
• The Rail Trail - the midpoint of the 152-kilometre route.
• The Maniototo plain - dry, wide and empty around the town.

When to go

October to April for the Rail Trail. Winters are severely cold and quiet.

Before you go

It is a small farm town - the deco is a handful of buildings, not a district. Accommodation fills in cycling season and is limited otherwise. Very cold in winter.

Nearby

Naseby and St Bathans are north; the Rail Trail runs both ways.

Key facts