The Photography of Dr. Jeff Harper

The Victoria Railway Hotel in Invercargill, New Zealand has been continuously operated as a hotel since it was built in 1893.  The current owners have lovingly restored it to it's original charm and beauty.  I much prefer these old gems to any Hilton or a motel.

At -1c the old beauty looks great. Invercargill is the last stop on the rail road at the very southernmost tip of New Zealand's South Island.  If you were a British, or Scottish visitor, or immigrant, in the 1890s you would have reached the absolute farthest outpost in the English-speaking world: 12 time zones of longitude and over 90 degrees of latitude! You would have stepped of the train and walked across Levent Street to this very hotel.

The food in the 1890s dining room was fresh, honest, and tasty. Yes . . . .  if these walls could speak . . . .

In the old days this is where you would repair for a cigar after your meal and perhaps reminisced about the Old Country, and how far away from it you were.

What a perfect period perfect restoration!

A special mood permeates the Victoria Rail Road Hotel.