Steampunk HQ

Oamaru's Victorian precinct - streets of 1880s limestone warehouses built on the wool and grain trade, largely intact because the town's economy collapsed and nobody demolished anything - became the improbable centre of New Zealand's steampunk scene. Steampunk HQ opened in a former grain store in 2011 and is a collection of sculptural machines assembled from industrial scrap: a locomotive out front that belches smoke and roars when you press a button, engines that turn, a pipe organ, and a room called the Portal lined floor to ceiling with mirrors and coloured lights that most visitors remember longest. It is artist-run and deliberately strange rather than educational - there is very little explanation of anything, by design. It is small, and people who want context or narrative find that frustrating; people who want an atmosphere generally do not.

What you actually see

• The smoking locomotive - outside, and it works on a button.
• The scrap machines - sculptural engines assembled from industrial junk.
• The Portal - the mirrored light room.
• The grain store - the Victorian warehouse it all sits inside.

When to go

Any season; entirely indoors. It is small - an hour or two. The Victorian Precinct around it is best on Sunday when the market runs.

Honest expectations

Small and deliberately unexplained - no interpretation, no narrative. The Portal has strong flashing lights, which is a genuine problem for photosensitive visitors. Dark throughout.

Nearby

The Victorian Precinct is immediately around it; the penguin colony is at the harbour.