Historic Ophir office's postmistress retires after 26 years

After 26 years as the postmistress at the historic Ophir Post Office, Val Butcher has retired.

The post office is the longest continuously operated in New Zealand, and the historic building, which was built in 1886, is also one of the most photographed in the South Island, but for Butcher it is the people that made the job so special.

Butcher told Morning Report she moved to Ophir from Australia to retire.

"When I first moved here there was only 25 people. The town was shrinking and I didn't expect to get a job," Butcher said.

The post office was run by a woman who was in ill health, and she asked Butcher if she could fill in on days she wasn't feeling well, and when she left, Butcher applied for the job and got it.

"I was in the right place at the right time," Butcher said.

"I'd never been a postmistress before, so it was all new to me. It was great and it was good for me, and it was only four doors from where I live."

The towns population now numbers about 70 and Butcher has got to to know them all, and also enjoys the tourists from the nearby rail trail who flock to the historic building which is owned by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.

"It's been a really, really interesting job, and I've had good bosses all the way through, so I can't complain," she said.

Butcher also enjoyed learning about the heritage of the Central Otago town, which is an old gold mining town.

Butcher is staying in Ophir, and described her decision to retire as "a little sad, but glad I've made the decision now, it was a very hard decision to make".

She said she will still visit the post office to see her friends and helps to run a local community newsletter.

"I write what's called 'The Tatler', which is part of the newsletter," she said.

"I was writing the whole lot, and that got too much."

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.