Daily Photo – I.N.P Hjorring Draper & Clothing

My final stop for the day was Naseby, another town that started life in the gold rush and has managed to survive thanks to holidaymakers looking for somewhere a little quieter, and considerably less expensive, than the tourist hotspots of Arrowtown, Frankton and Queenstown. I found the town covered in bathed in bright daylight and a chilly 2 degrees. The main road into town led me past row after row of cottages and the local reserve, which was filled with kids building snowmen, Dads throwing snowballs, and mothers wondering how on earth they were going to get everything dry! A few blocks further along, the streets were filled with cars parked on snow-covered sidewalks as people strolled around enjoying the wintry snow. People happily sat in the sun out front of the local hotel as pockets of snow slid off the roof and water from the melting snow trickled down the footpath.

At its peak, the population of the town had grown to around 4,000 miners, with the town featuring up to 14 hotels, two butchers, multiple bakeries, billiard rooms and banks, a courthouse, a warden’s court, a post and telegraph office, a police station and jail, a blacksmith and wheelwright shop, a hospital, a school, and numerous churches. All of this was there to service the miners who had swelled into the town. I strolled for a few blocks, looking at nothing in particular, before returning to my car and leaving the town of Naseby behind.