This old bathouse situated in a tourist town of the North Island of New Zealand have been closed down since 2021 after seismic assessment found structural integrity concerns in the building.
These beautiful old baths must have been such an amazing thing for tourists to see and it’s so sad to see them in this state, seemingly being left abandoned til something is hopefully done to fix them up one day.
Tragically this building burnt down in suspicious circumstances on the Shelly Bay peninsula in Wellington.
Once a mental asylum with a chequered past, then turned polytech – this land is now up for development into housing in Auckland, NZ.
Here’s hoping it gets looked after before it falls into the hands of more vandals it is such a beautiful building, nothing as grand as this really left in New Zealand sadly.
Join us on this explore of the old abandoned neighbours set film set situated in Melbourne, Australia.
We just so happened to find ourselves in Melbourne when we got lucky to find a way into the old set of the decommissioned tv show. It turns out there was plenty to see here as everything was pretty much left as is once filming had wrapped up, now awaiting a swift demolition, we hope you enjoy the pictures!
This abandoned hospital in the South Island was on our radar for quite a few years until actually cracking it. It was quite an exciting rush to finally see inside after peering inside the windows for so long!
A lot was left inside amongst a large amount of natural decay, it was clear this hospital was once a good place for many being where children were born but now looking fairly creepy.
The Dunedin Cadbury factory closed in 2018 after 88 years of operation, it was a very controversial shut down with the factory recently being sold to mondalez. This sale was often linked to the factory’s demise, it was a very sad end to the cadbury saga in New Zealand.
I had dreamt of this explore for years before actually doing it, imagining going back through the ‘cadbury world’ exhibition I went through as a youngster and to see the infamous chocolate fountain in its full abandoned glory. This was however, not quite how I imagined as demolition was quite far through by the time we managed access. Enjoy the pics!
Built around 1901 this old infirmary became a rest home and then a backpackers before being left to ruin, most probably demolition by neglect. We explored this place earlier this year, it was a huge sprawling complex with plenty to see and photograph, there was heaps of natural decay as the building didn’t seem to have been maintained at all for a long time.
We hope you enjoy the pictures,
This old abandoned factory once produced the chemicals used in ‘agent orange’ by the US military in South Vietnam. Since then, and despite the controversy, the factory continued to operate under several different names from the 70s till now where it meets it’s demise through demolition.
What a lot of fun this explore was, jumping between buildings we got to see a range of old equipment and science lab stuff. Reminiscing on what used to be produced in this factory was kind of scary really, there is still ongoing investigations into the damage caused by the chemical produced in ‘clean green New Zealand’ to this day.
This site offered us so much: a shuttered racecourse grandstand struggling to keep out the rain; a ‘François Cafe’ kitted out in faux-Parisian style from a 1986 makeover complete with a fake Renoir painting on the wall; a forgotten library of horse racing with books and records dating back a century; and a pristine piece of New Zealand’s computing history. In the 1930s racing odds were mechanically determined inside this totalisator building. The expected dividends were shown as barometers which consisted of two strips of differently coloured canvas, one displaying place and the other for the win. They were sophisticated machines to maintain and to operate, with reset procedures needing to be performed between each race. The totalisator engineers maintained their machines diligently, taking considerable pride in their smooth operation and appearance.
Shot years before this agricultural research centre was stripped bare in preparation for demolition, this video documents the extraordinary amount of science equipment left behind, even as part of the vacated space was being repurposed as a site for the training of police dogs.
These caverns located in the South Island of New Zealand have been on the urbexcentral radar for the last few years – since around 2015.
We’d always dreamt of what it looked like behind that big foreboding door and randomly in the summer of 2021 we found ourselves stumble upon an open door into the expansive caverns!
Once inside we came to the realisation that we were totally unprepared for the darkness and mystery that awaited us – we were actually in the South Island for a wedding, had no decent torch, footwear or tripod!
Enjoy the pics!
Our friend Red Sky and his Auckland-based associates cracked this sweet Auckland rooftop recently. Fans of Ally Law’s madnesses will like the running escape. Nice one lads!
The most comprehensive effort we’ve yet made to capture the experience of a climb. This is a viaduct in Aotearoa New Zealand. The edit features two separate perspectives: the climber’s point of view and that of an observing drone.
Part One: Someone Up There [0:00] Climbing has always created certain vistas of landscapes which would otherwise remain unseen. Climbing is also a human experience. A landscape is transformed into an obstacle by the simple fact that there is someone finding their way up there. This edit is a chance for the viewer to watch as one human watches another human navigating a landscape.
Part Two: Within Our Grasp [8:40] It is natural for us to reach for whatever lies within our grasp. POV videography allows someone to reach on behalf of others. Thanks for accompanying us as we reach for new experiences.
Part Three: A Delicate Crossing [17:38] Ahead is a native timber walkway too perished to be trustworthy; to the left is a steel guttering constructed 1896—1902, to the right a loose-hanging cable that is more a comfort than a protection; below are steel girders ranging from a little over a foot’s width to a little under, and below them nothing but airspace behind which a charcoal-blue tinted river glints among a green landscape.
A return and a farewell to this heritage-listed maternity hospital and it’s sprawling arts and crafts 1920’s styled grounds. Demolition machines arrived at the former Maternity Hospital on Nov 30th (2020)- the 1927 building was rubble by the afternoon. Heritage NZ confirmed they had not been aware of the coming demolition and were “saddened to hear” that this important part of New Zealand’s medical and social history had been demolished.
In 2014 on a Urbexcentral excursion in the hills- Gunner (as per usual), saw this tower as a challenge rather than an obstacle and couldn’t be talked out of free climbing it. We waited in trepidation at the bottom, as he proceeded to knock the bastard off.
Welcome to the complete video document of Gunner’s adventures with Urbex Central at Erskine College in Island Bay, Wellington, New Zealand, in the years after its closure in 2012.
Part One: Rage Against The Dying Of The Light [0:00]
Several years ago now, we visited Erskine College at night. We found our way into its pristine Gothic chapel, which was added to the college in 1929-30. It had at that time recently been operating as a wedding venue before being declared earthquake prone. We lit up the chapel once more, first with candlelight and then with halogen flood lights powered by a petrol generator. Over the course of the next three years we revisited the college and documented it as best we could, while the destruction from vandalism seemed to be advancing mercilessly towards the chapel. Today most of the college has been demolished to make way for a housing development, while the chapel remains, albeit emptied out and boarded up. We’re happy to bring you the chapel as we first found it.
Part Two: Ascension Day [5:59]
In the year following our first visit to Erskine College, tagging had visibly advanced to the choir loft at the back of the chapel. Hung high out of reach of taggers’ sharpies are the stations of the cross, the closest of which to us depict scenes where Jesus is “aided by Simon” and “stripped of his garments”. By this time Urbex Central had evolved into a highly active and — more importantly — a warm collective, as evident in moments of playful cooperation captured on video. Thankfully one of the organs was foot-powered.
Part Three: Walk Towards The Falling Water, I Will Meet You There [10:36]
In 2009, a poetic arts student wrote in chalk on top of a set of wooden shelves: “Walk towards the falling water / I will meet you there”. Construction began on Erskine College, a former Catholic girls’ school, in 1905, with a chapel added in 1929-30. In 1985 it ceased operating as a college, and in 1992 a trust was formed and given responsibility for its heritage protection. Between 1997 and 2009 it was tenanted by a tertiary art school. The chapel then reopened as a wedding venue until being declared earthquake prone in 2012.
Part Four: Acts of The Apostle [17:47]
Another year has passed, and once more the chapel is inviting exploration. We know the space well enough now to relax in the moment and capture details hitherto unseen. With explorers almost entirely absent from the frame, the gentle zooming in and out of the camera seems to capture an aspect of human experience deeper than adventure: our cyclical approaching and withdrawing from faith and/or artistry of many kinds as we navigate our lives.
Elvis was the tender age of 19 when he recorded “That’s Alright Mama” in “a new, distinctive style” on the Sun label. Many of the arrivals at this commune founded in 1973 were of a similar age, seeking to live in a new, distinctive style under the sun. A painter’s easel stands overlooking the hillside on which the communal meeting house was built, and the nearby house still contains once-cherished paintings and art books.
A return and a farewell to an enormous, decaying industrial site- on the eve of its imminent demolition, decontamination and redevelopment. The soundtrack (The Overload) by Talking Heads, is the finale from their 1980 album “Remain in Light”.
This former rail tunnel has sat abandoned since 1900. It is now three-quarters buried by the earth, and half-flooded. Distinctive arrow imprints on the red and brown clay bricks indicate the presence of prison labourers in its construction. Prisoners serving terms with hard labour wore arrows on their uniforms to visually distinguish them from civilian workers, and they marked their handmade bricks with arrows, as a kind of self-portrait. Finding this tunnel was a team effort involving anecdotes from rail workers, hand-drawn maps of enthusiasts, and – finally – simply groping through thick vines in search of the source of faint sounds of trickling water. The entrances are completely obscured in dense overgrowth. The thrill of finding something so untouched for so long is indescribable.
Driving rural back roads in the Waitomo region, we came across several well-worn former abodes. Interestingly to us, many a collapsing farmhouse had a companion tree somewhat alleviating its loneliness, presumably planted by its former occupants.
The current temporary closure of this commercialised geothermal area in the North Island of New Zealand allowed us to capture nature steadily continuing its activity in the peaceful absence of human occupation. According to Māori legend, New Zealand’s geothermal areas were created by two ember-bearing travellers – not on the sea, but through the earth. The two sisters of ocean navigator Ngātoro-i-rangi heard his call for their help from the midst of a blizzard at Mount Tongariro. They loaded six kete baskets with glowing embers and summoned Te Pupu and Te Hoata – the subterranean goddesses of fire – to deliver them to their imperilled brother. The goddesses dived deep into the earth and carried the baskets of heat from Hawaiiki (the Polynesian homeland) to Aotearoa. Each time the goddesses surfaced on their voyage they left a trail of embers, creating geothermal sites at Whakaari (White Island), Moutohorā (Whale Island), Rotoiti, Tarawera, Rotorua, Ōrākei Korako, Wairakei and Tokaanu. By the time they reached Ngātoro-i-rangi at Ketetahi, Tongariro, only one kete of fire remained to save his life.
So I finally decided to check out this abandoned house which has been awaiting demoliton for a long time in Christchurch!
To my suprise this place still survives to this today however I imagine it’s far beyond repair judging by the damage.
That’s all for now, enjoy the pics.
U R B E X C E N T R A L 