Historic Hayes

16/09/2026

Winter is lingering at Historic Hayes today
The roads are open and the heaters are on in Hannahs Cafe.

No museum tours today, just plenty of hot food and great coffee.

09/09/2026

Winter isn't officially over for us at Historic Hayes.

Back into winter wonderland this morning.

We're looking forward to opening this Sunday. 13th September at 9.30am.

See you on Sunday.

07/09/2026

🚨 WE’RE HIRING! 🚨

Historic Hayes & Hannah’s Café is getting ready to open for another season… and we need more good humans to join the team! 😄

We’re looking for casual, part-time and full-time team members across:

☕ Baristas
🍰 Front of House
🔪 Kitchen Hands
🏡 Visitor Hosts

And here’s the thing… you might not be doing just ONE of these jobs. Around here, being able to turn your hand to a bit of everything is definitely a bonus!

One minute you could be making a flat white, the next baking a scone, helping a visitor discover the Hayes story, and then wondering why there are suddenly 20 dirty cups in the basin. 😂

We’re open 7 days a week, with shifts generally running between 8.30am–4.30pm.

If you’re:
✔️ friendly
✔️ reliable
✔️ good with people
✔️ happy to get stuck in
✔️ and don’t mind a little organised chaos…

we’d love to hear from you!

You don’t need to be an expert at everything — we can teach you. What matters is having a great attitude, being willing to learn and being part of a team.

📍 Historic Hayes & Hannah’s Café – Oturehua

Want to know more or keen to get an application link?

Contact Leah 0273767518 and she’ll point you in the right direction.

Come and join us for a season of heritage, hospitality, good coffee, great visitors… and probably a few stories that never made it into the history books! 😉

06/09/2026

Kia ora everyone,

Well… it seems we may have been a little too keen to get the doors open for the new season!

Unfortunately, Influenza A has decided to visit Historic Hayes before our visitors do, and it has taken a few members of our team out of action. After a bit of discussion (and quite a lot of coughing), we’ve made the sensible decision to postpone our opening.

Hannah’s Café and Historic Hayes will now reopen to the public on Sunday, 13 September.

Our planned opening was only a few days away, but rather than welcoming you with a cup of coffee and a side order of influenza, we think it’s best to give our team time to recover properly and make sure we’re ready to give everyone the warm welcome you’ve come to expect.

So, if you have guests travelling the Otago Central Rail Trail this week, please let them know that we’ll be closed until Sunday, 13 September.

From Sunday, we’ll be back in business, with the café open daily from 9.30am–3.30pm, along with our Historic Hayes experiences and tours.

And for our fellow operators – thank you for your understanding and for helping us spread the word. We’re very much looking forward to seeing you, your guests and plenty of familiar local faces once we’re back on our feet.

Sometimes the best business decision is simply to stop, rest and get better. Apparently even heritage properties aren't immune!

We’ll see you all on Sunday, 13 September – healthy, recovered and ready for the season ahead.

Take care,

The Team Historic Hayes

06/08/2026

WE'RE HIRING 📣 Love storytelling, teamwork and a good flat white? You might be our next Visitor Host!

We're on the lookout for a fixed-term Visitor Host to assist with day-to-day operations at Historic Hayes, including guided tours, events, bookings and public programmes. It would also be great if you've had previous hospitality experience, however training will be provided.

✅ Sound like you? Find out more via https://www.heritage.org.nz/about/careers

05/07/2026

In 1895 Hannah Hayes left her eldest daughter in charge of her other children and set off on her bike, traveling throughout Central Otago and the McKenzie country selling her husband's inventions to farmers. Thank you to shebikeshebikes for sharing the story of this pioneering woman. Whose up for the challenge?

Hannah Hayes didn't ride for fun. She rode for a living.

While her husband Ernest built wire strainers and farm tools in the workshop at Oturehua, Hannah was the one out on the road, cycling to remote farms across Central Otago (and as far as the Mackenzie Country) in her long skirts, taking orders and making sales. No support vehicle. No shop around the corner. Just her, the bike, and whatever was in her kit if something went wrong.
We reckon changing a tube was a skill she couldn't afford not to have.

Winter's the perfect time to get that sorted for yourself. Slower months, no pressure, no rain coming sideways at you on the trail. Watch our video on changing a tube, and go into spring knowing you can sort yourself out if it happens out there.

Because if Hannah could do it in a long skirt with no gears, you can manage it too.

The link to the video is in the comments

22/06/2026

Meet Oturehua legend Ken Gillespie, who has been leading tours and doing other helpful things at Historic Hayes for a whopping 50 years.

On Sundays in summer, Ken runs the entertaining operating tours at Hayes, bringing to life the ingenious farming inventions of Ernest Hayes. Ken explains, "Most of the creations are fencing-related — wire strainers and triplex — but also windmills, cattlestops and stock handling equipment."

Ken is embedded in all parts of the Oturehua community: he is a keen curler — his team has won two golds at the NZ Masters Games, and to top it off, he is a trustee of the world-famous Otago Central Rail Trail Trust.

Thank you Ken for all you do to bring history to life for locals and visitors alike.

Read more about Ken here: https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-otago/spirit-town-embodied-one

Plan your trip to Historic Hayes in Central Otago: https://tohuwhenua.nz/historichayes

📷These great shots are by Clare Toia-Bailey

24/05/2026

🍂 That’s a Wrap for the Season! 🍂

Today marked the final day of the season at and what a wonderful season it has been.

To everyone who visited us over the past months — thank you. Whether you stopped in for a quick look, shared stories over coffee at Hannah’s Café, or brought friends and family to experience Hayes, your support means the world to us.

This special place is kept alive by the people who walk through the gates, and we feel incredibly fortunate to have welcomed so many fantastic visitors again this year.

Now it’s time for a winter pause while the team recharges and prepares for another exciting season ahead. Both Hayes and Hannah’s Café will reopen in September 2026, ready to do it all again.

Until then, thank you for being part of the Hayes journey. Have a safe and happy winter, and we look forward to seeing you again in the spring.

💚 The Team at Hayes

18/05/2026

We are frozen today.

The café is open.
Hot food and great coffee ready.

The museum is closed today as the ground conditions are treacherous.

Hopefully the sun comes out tomorrow.

13/05/2026

A huge thank you to Darren Carson from Roy Carson Builders for taking away our gate that had reached its last legs and rebuilding this lovely gate for our driveway.
Darren reused all of the hinges, catches and bolts and after 4 coats of paint put it back on the gudgeons.

Doesn't it look amazing.