Opawa Homestead - Bed and Breakfast Accommodation - Albury, South Canterbury, New Zealand.

Weddings
You can hold your wedding ceremony at Opawa Homestead in our romantic garden surroundings. We have connections with caterers, bands, photographers, a priest, marriage celebrants, wedding decorators, cake providers and florists. Hair and beauty specialists with wedding experience can also attend to the bridal party's needs. For parties of 15-20 the small chapel would be ideal and for larger groups, marquees for the lawns can be hired along with furniture. We are happy to discuss your requirements with you.

The following photographers have worked with us in the past and some of their photos are used on this website:
Lisa at www.lumo.co.nz
David at www.photoguy.co.nz
Stu at stu@photographs.co.nz
Steven at www.photosuccess.co.nz
You can use our Wedding Plan to help you plan your day.

Concerts
Chamber music and singing concerts would find a perfect venue at the Homestead. We would love to hear from you if you have a group that may be interested in holding a concert at The Homestead.

Workshops
Any kind of group get together that wishes to use the homestead as a base for a class, a corporate luncheon/meeting/team bonding etc. will be welcome. At a future date we hope to be arranging varied workshops ourselves.

NZ Labour Day Weekend Car Rally
Enjoy the thrill of rally cars speeding past the gate and along the road in front of the homestead each October in this annual event. Great photo opportunities and a whole lot of fun to watch for the car enthusiast!

Queens Birthday Vintage Car Rally
Each Queen’s Birthday weekend (in June), beautiful cars of the past amble past the front gate of Opawa and happily toot the horn at the homestead and watchers as they trundle around the district for the weekend. The vintage rally has a special bond with the Opawa Homestead with the link of John Rutherford between both. So if a slower pace of life is more your style, then this is the rally not to be missed – often some of the cars will drop into the Homestead for a visit.

On February 4th 1906, two motorcars set out on the first motorcar journey to Mt Cook. The owners of these cars were John Rutherford (who lived at Opawa Homestead until 1924) and Rudolph Wigley, who both started the Mt Cook Transport Service and drove many passengers over the long haul to The Hermitage at Mt Cook. On February 4th 2006, this trip was re-enacted with over 150 vintage cars and over 320 people attending the rally (some making the trip especially from England and the US) and the cars stopped in at the homestead for a Devonshire morning tea. John Rutherford’s original car, a De Dion Bouton, now lives at The Hermitage Hotel at Mt Cook, but was the highlight of the morning as it parked in front of the Homestead as it would have done 100 years earlier. This was truly a drive down memory lane!