What is "otira"

Otira is a small township fifteen kilometres north of Arthur's Pass in the central South Island of New Zealand. It is on the northern approach to the pass, a saddle between the Otira and Bealey Rivers high in the Southern Alps. Otira means "o" (place of) and "tira" (the travellers).

Otira was originally a stop on the Cobb and Co stagecoach from Canterbury to the West Coast. The Midland Line was extended from Stillwater to Jacksons in 1894 and then Otira in 1899, when the pass was navigated by coach from Otira until the railway tunnel opened in 1923. During construction of the tunnel, Otira housed about 600 workers and their families.

The Otira Railway Station was opened on 13 November 1900 (ex-Goat Creek on 15 October 1900), and closed in February 1992.

In the 1950s the town had a population of about 350, but this had dropped to 11 in 1988. It recovered to 87 for Otira and its surrounds in the 2006 Census, an increase of 30 from 2001, and was 44 in 2010.

The township is principally old Railways housing, much of which was constructed in Hamilton and shipped south to be assembled on site. As well as the railway station, there is a pub, a fire station, and 18 houses, 14 of them tenanted in 2010.

On the 'town' side of Ōtira (as opposed to the village side) the old post office still stands as does the post masters house. The post office has been refurbished into an art gallery, 'John Burns Gallery of Modern Art'. The complex exhibits world class art which is a surprise to many visitors, housed as it is in the middle of the southern alps.

Close to the town are two major feats of civil engineering: the Otira Tunnel, and the Otira Viaduct.

Part of the Otira village was bought by Bill and Christine Hennah in 1998 for NZ$80,000, and in 2010 was put up for sale with an asking price of NZ$1.5 million.