To me this is one of the hidden gems of New Zealand History and I almost missed it.  

Situated on the left hand side of the road 8km south of Oamaru with signage saying it is a Historic Farm  does it no justice. It's actually one of the most important places in New Zealand History and well worth a visit.

Totara Estate is where the NZ Frozen Export Meat Industry started.

You get to   see the original abattoir and workers quarters. On show is some of the early farming machinery along with records of the history of our first sheep herds and the breeding process that formed the basis of our sheep meat industry. 

It is also where a lot of the design and engineering of refrigeration equipment was done to allow frozen help facilitate our  exports. 

An exert from the website…

In 1881 the Albion Line fitted a Bell-Coleman plant to its sailing ship Dunedin and at Totara Estate, just outside Ōamaru, the Land Company added a slaughterhouse to these late 1860s farm outbuildings. Davidson and local manager Thomas Brydone supervised the slaughtering of 300-400 sheep a day. Ōamaru's harbour works were incomplete, so they railed the carcasses to Port Chalmers for freezing aboard the Dunedin, which sailed for London on 15 February 1882. The ship landed the cargo in perfect condition.

So don't miss this one from your itinerary,