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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Charlotte Graham-McLay

Photos show airship captains and Victorian inventors flocking to a New Zealand steampunk festival

New Zealand Steampunk Festival - (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The small, rural town of Ōamaru, New Zealand, has become an unlikely world capital for the retro futuristic genre of steampunk.

Over a span of four days each year, a steampunk festival draws thousands of airship captains, Victorian inventors and make-believe aristocrats as they show off costumes and personas they have spent months or even years creating.

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