The Historic Black Hotel in Ophir was a welcome sight for a late lunch cup of coffee. After an amazing Lemon Meringue Tart and a good look around the hotel, we set off for a good look around Ophir with the camera.

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The original Post Office seems to be the hub of the History in the area and they’re doing a good job of promoting the old buildings. The Post Office still operates for 3 hours each day. Behind it is the original Jail Cell from Omakau.

Check out the Gallery below for a slideshow of Ophir

The Ophir Bridge

The Cottage Hospital and Doctors house.

The Pitches Store originally ran as Grocers and a Butchers but is now a Restaurant.

The Courthouse built in 1886 now a private residence.

The Centre of the community to this day, built in 1926.

After an hour or so here, we went over the bridge to the Omakau Commercial Hotel where they have a great Motorhome and caravan parking setup behind. The parks are all on concrete pads and most have an optional ensuite with a shower and toilet area.

The parking is $15 a night with power and the ensuites are $10 pp per night. We opted to do our own thing and just use the power.

After settling down Rafe, we went for a walk around the town through a new subdivision and its amazing how many new houses are being built here. The Rail Trail has really set things alight in the whole Central Otago region.

We headed into the Hotel to pay for our park and have a drink and meet Stacy who gave us a great background on the pubs history.
It was originally built in 1898 as a Homestead on a 200 acre block, by the Leask family, one of the original settlers and his family. There are original stables out behind the Hotel which are used as a function centre.

When Stacy and her husband took over the Hotel 11 years ago. The weeds were knee high and it desperately needed some tlc. Stacy’s dad was involved in helping to restore the pub and after they realised that Stacy’s grandmother was a house maid at the pub for years, Stacy’s Dad couldn’t bring himself to sand the top of the handrail but lacquered and painted everything else. The thought was his mother would have run her hands up and down it over many years.

The rooms all look fantastic and all have a slightly different look so they’ve done a great job. The grounds are immaculate and it now looks well loved.

After having a few drinks down in the bar, we spent an hour or so back in Rafe and then came back for Tea. I had Pork Belly which was really reasonably priced and was stunning. Fiona had Blue Cod and that was good too.

A lovely place to stay and Stacy is about to put the hotel on the market so if you think this is you, give her a call at the Omakau Commercial Hotel.

Update on Omakau Hotel 12-05-2019

We popped in here on the way through to Alexandra and checked in with Stacey to see if we could stop over for the night.

We planned to splash out and shout ourselves a meal in the restaurant and then crash in Rafe in the park behind later.

What used to be $15 a night for a powered site is now $35 plus another $10 if we wanted to use the ensuite shower/toilet !
I mentioned that at $45, that was fast approaching TOP Ten prices but without the amenities.   I suggested $20 just for a powered site might be more reasonable given that we were also planned to have a meal there.

It was $35 or nothing so we left.. For a powered site in the middle of nowhere, that’s getting expensive!