In this episode from long-running arts series Kaleidoscope, reporter Angela D’Audney visits the artist Grahame Sydney at his home — Mount Pisa Station near Cromwell — and discovers the slow and painstaking techniques he uses to produce his remarkable landscapes. Sydney explains how he chooses the subjects for his paintings and manipulates the Central Otago landscapes, to create the artworks for which he has achieved worldwide fame. Sydney also discusses the impact of family life upon him and his work.

Produced by George Andrews, Great New Zealand River Journeys is a three-part series exploring the history and majesty of the Waikato, Wanganui and Clutha rivers. In this episode, Jon Gadsby explores the Clutha River and surrounds, and finds out about jet-boating and rafting (the cameraman falls in when he gets a little too close to his subject), bungy jumping, the Clyde Dam, Cromwell's giant fruit and Alexandra's giant clock. Gadsby enjoys the ubiquitous whitebait fritters offered by the locals before the journey ends at the mouth of the river. 

This documentary looks at the attempts by New Zealand's small towns to attract attention: ranging from giant statues of fish, fruit, and soft-drink bottles to festivals devoted to local vegetables or wild food. Actress Miranda Harcourt travels from Paeroa to Alexandra to explore the colourful expressions of small-town identity and pride. Shot by Leon Narbey, this was one of a series of documentaries directed by Shirley Horrocks about kiwi popular culture. A book by Claudia Bell and John Lyall (with the same title) was the film's starting-point.

Great New Zealand River Journeys was a three part series produced by George Andrews that examined the history, geography and people of three of New Zealand's most iconic rivers: comedian Jon Gadsby explores the Clutha river, poet Sam Hunt the Whanganui, and musician Lynda Topp takes on the Waikato.

A series of comical graphics introduce this 1966 National Film Unit diversion, in a style animator Terry Gilliam would soon make famous via British comedy shows Do Not Adjust Your Set and Monty Python's Flying Circus. The film itself follows a reporter (Michael Woolf) on a jaunt with an international 'veteran car rally' through Southern Lakes scenery, trying to make sense of it all. As he says, "there don’t seem to be any rules to this vintage motoring business". Directed by John King, the playful film features a dubbed soundtrack, complete with sheep baas and car horn sound effects.

The Central Otago gold mining town of Cromwell celebrates its centenary in this NFU documentary. For a fortnight the townsfolk go about their ordinary business, but in colonial-era costume. They also re-enact the frontier-style life of gold rush New Zealand. Just 20 years before the film was shot, Cromwell banks were still receiving deposits of gold dust from customers. But the Cromwell of 1966 is also just a memory. While the old main street still exists, much of the town was flooded with the completion of the Clyde dam in 1993.

"The land where the road is long and winding and full of great folk with yarns to tell." In this 2011  series, TV reporter Hadyn Jones (host of the Good Sorts segment on One News) hooks up a caravan to his old Ford Falcon and travels the length of Aotearoa, from Dargaville to Cromwell. He meets ordinary Kiwi folks, and visits local schools, A&P shows and burnout competitions. His interviewees include plenty of mechanics (he is in an old Ford!). Seven half-hour episodes were produced by Jane Andrews and Jam TV for TVNZ. Critic Karl du Fresne called the series a "modest little gem".

In the summer of 2007-2008 freelance photographer Jessie Casson and her family embarked on a road trip around New Zealand in a classic caravan (which threatened to fall apart along the way), to compile a book and accompanying documentary on some of our less-celebrated champions. Among them are gumboot throwers, an A&P show baker, naked Nelson cyclists, a shepherd, a singer, a family of champion woodchoppers, a Cromwell cherry spitter, Hokitika coal shovellers and lamb shearing record holder Emily Welch, who sheared 642 lambs in nine hours.