New Zealand is littered with eerie abandoned places, from grand mansions and old mining settlements that radiate melancholy and despair to handsome hotels and museums left to languish. Here we take a tour of the country to reveal the bleak but oddly beautiful sights that lie empty and almost forgotten.
Once the bustling site of the South Island’s biggest gold mine, Waiuta’s deserted industrial structures and township make for a haunting scene. Close to Greymouth on the west coast, the area prospered when quartz gold was discovered there in 1905. Walking tracks wind around the remains of shops, houses and dormant buildings that once hummed with industry. One leads to the top of Prohibition Mine, the country's deepest mineshaft – look out for the foundations of the ball mill where the quartz was once pounded. Most of these tracks were once used by the small community that eked out a living in these tough conditions.
Close to Waiuta, Blackwater was a smaller community that sprang up to house the mining town’s sawmill and farm workers. At its peak, the settlement had a post office, a hotel and a schoolhouse, which opened in 1913 but shuttered in 1949 after the mine’s closure led to residents moving on. The building, which lay on private farmland, quickly fell into disrepair. Now owned by the community, the little school is a snapshot of a bygone era with wooden desks, inkwells, display cabinets and old photos. The decaying structure still needs substantial repairs.
Wallowing in the mudflats of the Motueka foreshore, near Abel Tasman National Park, are what remains of the Janie Seddon. She was built in 1901 in Glasgow and was used as a submarine mining vessel during the First and Second World Wars. After a short and unsuccessful stint as a fishing trawler, the coal-powered ship was abandoned off Motueka’s wharf and has wasted away ever since.
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Wellington Prison, also known as Mount Crawford Prison due to its setting on Mount Crawford (also called Mataimoana), opened in 1927 and closed in 2012. It has sat desolate and dormant ever since. Life continues in the old prison garden, however, where produce was grown for the prisoners for 85 years. The Miramar Prison Garden, opposite the empty facility, is now a bountiful and biodiverse community garden.
Set in the isolated rural community of Waimiha on the North Island, Endean's Mill is New Zealand's sole surviving complete native-timber sawmill. These now-vacant mill buildings, which include drying sheds and old workers' cottages, were moved from Matiere to their present-day location in 1927. The sawmill was named after its then-owner Jack Endean, and stayed in operation until 1996. Today the weathered wooden huts of the ramshackle site, which is strewn with rusting vehicles, tram lines, bogies and stacks of old milled timber, can be visited for a donation.
The inhabitants of the Bendigo Goldfields are long gone, but their presence lingers in the remnants of its remote settlements. A vast and lonely sweep of Otago in the southern part of the South Island is scattered with around 20 historic sites, and the melancholic ghost town of Bendigo, on the banks of Bendigo Creek, is one of them. Relics of its old gold-mining days include crumbling stone houses where miners once lived, stamper batteries and bits and pieces of machinery. Watch your step: there are deep and treacherous mining shafts here too.
Not much happens in this virtually abandoned settlement in a remote part of King Country on the North Island. After the state-owned coal mines, which had supported the local economy since the 1930s, closed in the 1970s, a lot of residents left, leaving houses empty and shops boarded up. The town slowly became rundown and dilapidated. In recent years the town has had an injection of life as a trickle of people have moved back to the neighbourhood, presumably drawn by Ohura’s cheap house prices and blissful isolation.
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Another decaying vestige of the South Island’s mining industry, Denniston on the west coast once hummed with life. Dating back to the 1870s and remaining populated until the 1960s, at points it was the country’s largest coal mine. Follow tracks through thick forest and you’ll pass rusting and weathered relics, including tunnels, foundations, a haulage winch and a mine fanhouse. Perhaps its most remarkable feature is its vertiginous incline railway, built to transport coal from its isolated location on the Denniston Plateau. Follow the Britannia Track to glimpse the remains of an abandoned gold mine too.
The ghostly remains of the Macetown gold mining site are a haunting presence in the high country tussocked land of Otago. The best way to approach the long-deserted 19th-century settlement is by following the trail that skirts along the Arrow River from Arrowtown. Life began here in the early 1860s when gold was found in the river, but it had become a ghost town by the 1930s. Today the reserve has the remains of ramshackle huts, a restored schoolroom and an abandoned old homestead. A 45-minute walk from the reserve will take you to the Homeward Bound Stamper Battery, a four-storey-high stamper that's perhaps the grandest one in the country.
This old settlement was established in the 19th century by Chinese migrants along Bush Creek on the fringes of Arrowtown, an early gold mining site. The community of men were mostly Cantonese and came to the goldfields in search of higher wages to support their families back in China. Many died in this distant and unwelcoming land and were buried in a separate part of the cemetery. Now a historic reserve, many of the old huts have been stabilised, while more have been reconstructed to help bring the past to life.
One of several historic coal mining sites on the South Island’s west coast, Brunner has a more tragic past than most. An explosion deep in the mine on 26 March 1896 claimed the lives of 65 mine workers – it was, and remains, the worst workplace accident in New Zealand’s history. Follow the trail to learn about the tragedy and the effect it had on the community, especially the grief-stricken families that were plunged into poverty overnight. You’ll pass crumbling beehive coke ovens and a memorial bearing the names of those killed.
Set on the east coast of the North Island, this secluded coastal town was home to a lively community in the 1940s. The port town's industry centred around the local freezing works, owned by the Tokomaru Sheepfarmers’ Freezing Company, which processed mutton that was then shipped off by sea. The freezing works closed in 1952 and many residents also left the town. Empty buildings pepper Tokomaru Bay, including the former freezing works and a bank. There are plans to restore its now-derelict wharf, which was so vital to the town's industry.
The Weka Pass Railway runs eight miles (13km) through the bucolic vineyards and rolling limestone hills of the Weka Pass. This heritage railway, which runs between Glenmark Station and Waikari Station near Christchurch, and was first constructed in the 1880s, closed to regular passengers in the 1970s and is now run by volunteers. Both vintage steam and diesel-electric locomotives now trundle along the line, passing through striking limestone formations like Frog Rock. Just before the hulking rocks sits an abandoned and atmospheric old railway shed.
The crumbling shell of the old Lindis Pass Hotel is one of several evocative ruins in the Nine Mile Historic Reserve, an area that saw the Otago region's first gold rush in the 1860s. The 19th-century ruin was originally built to be the general store for the burgeoning community in 1861. It's now part of a designated camping area in the distinctive tussock landscape of the Lindis Pass. The remains of a hut built by Watson Thompson, a reclusive former Second World War serviceman, are also here. It’s a haunting but beautiful setting for camping, and your spooky campfire stories will take on a whole new resonance with derelict buildings looming in the darkness.
Fairlight is part of a vast and empty landscape in Central Otago, home to some of the biggest sheep and beef stations in the South Island and not much else. Its lonely rural railway building, which lies along the rarely used line between Invercargill and Kingston, rattles with echoes of its past. In 2022, vintage steam train the Kingston Flyer began taking passengers to the long-abandoned station again. The train service was first introduced in the late 1890s as a freight and passenger service but the arrival of buses in the 1950s saw passenger numbers decline.
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It’s easy to imagine this handsome old building in its heyday when it hosted regattas and social functions in the City of Sails. Perched above the Bayswater Marina on Auckland's north shore since the 1920s, the Bayswater Boating Club now looks perilously close to tipping into the water. The heritage-listed boathouse, which was used as a clubhouse until the 1960s, went into decline when the boating club built a new one in Takapuna. With council restrictions on how the old boathouse could be used, the building fell into a state of severe disrepair – although restoration plans are afoot.
Built in 1939 on a precipitous headland, the Godley Head Coastal Defence Battery was manned constantly throughout the Second World War. It was placed there to protect the port of Lyttelton and guard the region’s shipping traffic and in 1942 when the country was on high alert for Japanese attacks, the extensive battery was manned by more than 400 personnel. What remains of the long-since decommissioned structure sits within the Godley Head Farm Park Reserve and can be accessed along a scenic coastal trail with far-reaching views across the harbour.
Closed in 2016 for critical strengthening following the Kaikoura earthquake, this heritage-listed former bathhouse which normally houses the Rotorua Museum has been off-limits to visitors ever since. The century-old building sustained significant damage from the magnitude 7.8 quake, and a seismic assessment released shortly after found that the building was well below national standards for earthquake readiness. Plans are afoot to restore the beloved landmark, but with ever-escalating costs the museum still sits eerily empty.
Set within the same complex as the Rotorua Museum, the Blue Baths were also shuttered following the earthquake. The handsome 1930s building was deemed dangerous after a seismic assessment found that it met only 15% of the strength requirements of new buildings. According to local reports, the dormant spa is now in a severe state of disrepair, and will only degenerate further as it's left to fester. Its present condition is a far cry from its heyday, when the bathhouse was a lively social hub for bathing and society events.
Rising out of native forest in Tongariro National Park, the rusting form of an old steel viaduct is one of several heritage features on the Ohakune Old Coach Road – now a spectacular trail that runs along the lower slopes of Mount Ruapehu. The turn-of-the-century Taonui Viaduct, which has Category 1 Historic Place status, was built to help complete a railway, just like the nearby Hapuawhenua Viaduct. Nearby there’s also part of an old cobbled road and campsites where weary workers would bed down after back-breaking days of work. The viaduct was completed in 1907 and used until the 1980s. It has since been reclaimed by nature.
This weather-worn wooden church sits in a field near Matakohe in New Zealand's Northland region. It was built in 1889 as an Anglican church for workers living in the area to dig for kauri gum, the fossilised resin of the kauri tree. It then converted to Ratana Christianity – a Maori denomination – in the 1920s, and was an important place for community gatherings. While the timber church might be disused, it’s not been forgotten. The local community is raising funds to restore this beloved place of worship and breathe new life into its historic bones.
Gothic stories swirl around this spooky and severely neglected 19th-century mansion in Auckland’s Grey Lynn suburb. The Category 1 Historic Place certainly has a tragic history. It started life as an orphanage (the Costley Training Institute) in 1886, and later became a remand house and school. Now owned by the United Church of Tonga after a community group bought it in the 1970s, the dangerously dilapidated building's future remains in limbo as the church and Auckland Council tussle over plans to either preserve or redevelop the site.
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Named Aotea (white cloud) by the Maori, Great Barrier Island lies northeast of Auckland. When Europeans arrived they were quick to exploit its resources: kauri tree forests were logged, whales hunted and copper (and later gold and silver) hacked from its rocks. In fact, it was the site of the country’s very first copper mine when the metal was discovered here in 1841, and a ramshackle settlement swiftly arose around the mine on the northwest coast. The track leading to the mine still remains, as do tunnels and parts of the engine house wharf, though the site is only accessible by boat. Those that visit also pass over the wreck of SS Wairarapa, adding to the site's foreboding feel. The ship struck rocks near Miners Head in 1894, with 140 souls lost to the sea.
It's been a long time since this time-worn general store did any trade. The crumbling old village shop is a forlorn yet striking sight along the road in Otakeho, a small settlement in Taranaki, a region on the North Island’s west coast. Until recently Otakeho was also home to a small 19th-century timber church, St John the Divine Anglican church, that had been decommissioned and left to fester. The heritage building was bought and relocated just down the road to the farm of its new owners, where it's since been restored. The store, however, remains a rundown relic of the past.
A large mansion built for a wealthy Christchurch merchant at the start of the 20th century, Antonio Hall is a Category 2 Historic Place on Riccarton Road. Originally known as Barons Court, it was purchased by the Catholic Church in the 1940s and used as a seminary for local boys. It was later a church-run hostel before returning to private ownership in the 1990s. The fascinating building was damaged by the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and left unrepaired, while two fires inflicted further harm in 2019 and 2021. Its future now looks bleak, and the blighted building (pictured here before the latest blaze) is fenced off to keep out vandals and squatters.
With a name that instantly piques interest, this ill-fated bridge in Whanganui National Park has become an unlikely tourist attraction. The concrete road bridge, which crosses the Whanganui river does indeed go nowhere, with nothing but thick forest on either side. It was built in 1936 to provide easier access to the remote Mangapurua Valley, where soldiers returning from the First World War were given farms. Just six years later the valley had almost emptied as the ex-soldiers struggled with hostile conditions and economic hardship, and the forest reclaimed the route.
This disused coal processing plant five miles (8km) southwest of the town of Huntly on the North Island was constructed in the late 1930s to convert coal waste into fuel pellets, which were briefly used for fuelling homes and locomotives. Explosions and fires blighted the plant in the 1970s and 1980s, and the company eventually went into liquidation. Now listed as a Category 1 Historic Place by Heritage New Zealand, the toxic industrial site remains frozen in time.
There's a dark history lurking behind this state-run psychiatric institution, which opened in the Waikato region in 1912 to detain and segregate the so-called 'mentally deficient'. It closed in 1998 and it’s since been discovered that abuse and neglect were rife. Hundreds of patients were also buried in unmarked graves in the hospital’s cemetery, which bore just a single headstone. A memorial plaque now honours the nearly 500 forgotten individuals that ended their days here. The site has numerous health hazards, and employs round-the-clock security.
A grand old hotel with the brooding Mount Ruapehu looming behind, the Chateau Tongariro has always been an arresting sight. These days, however, the landmark hotel has more than a whiff of The Shining about it. The isolated Category 1 Historic Place opened in 1929 in the Tongariro National Park, which contains three active volcanoes and popular ski areas, but closed its doors for the foreseeable future in February 2023. Its overseas owners decided that the critical seismic strengthening required to make the hotel safe was not financially viable. It now sits forlorn and devoid of life.