2 minute read

Gore Must Do's

Tussock Country Music

Festival For country musicians and fans of every ilk. From King’s Birthday weekend for nine days, over 700 global competitors turn up for the New Zealand Country Music Capital of Gore.

Freeze Ya Bits Off Busking

A key event in the Tussock Country Music Festival, buskers compete to win a $3000 grand prize. With mulled wine and food, the atmosphere is electric.

Bannerman Park

Sealed pathways lead you through the extensive plantings of rhododendrons, conifers, native ferns, daffodils, peonies, day lilies, willows, oaks and silver birches are intertwined with streams, ponds and a deer park.

Trout Fishing

Gore is regarded as the world’s Brown Trout Fishing Capital and with almost 150km of accessible water, Mataura River is considered the holy grail for dry fly angling.

Croydon Aviation Heritage Centre

Located just outside of town, this museum is crammed with New Zealand’s earliest aircraft; book a scenic flight aboard a vintage bi-plane.

Hokonui Moonshine Museum

A trip to the Illicit Past... Gore’s colourful history of illicit whisky distilling and bootlegging is brought to life at the Hokonui Moonshine Museum and boutique moonshine distillery.

Hokonui Pioneer Village and Museum © Great South

Hokonui Pioneer Village and Museum © Great South

Hokonui Pioneer Village and Museum

Tap into Gore’s extensive agricultural history by visiting this replica pioneer village. Incorporating a church, old bank, traditional cottage, school and blacksmith as well as vintage tractors and the adjoining Vintage Car Club Motor Museum.

St James Theatre

Built in 1936, the theatre is a perfectly preserved piece of art deco. Don’t miss the theatre’s retro 80s-style snack bar, another nostalgic blast from the past.

Gore Public Gardens

Roam around these gorgeous gardens, making full use of the picnic tables and park benches before meandering around the rose garden, aviaries and year-round winter garden.

Balfour

Stop on the way between Gore and Lumsden for a snoop around this classic little town with a tavern, historic sites and lovely old churches.

Eastern Southland Art Gallery

Nicknamed the ‘Goreggenheim’ and housed inside the 1909 library building, the gallery’s exterior is as

Eastern Southland Art Gallery © Southland Tourism

Eastern Southland Art Gallery © Southland Tourism

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