Small Town Tourist

My class is over, the month is now August, I'll soon be departing...better get busy "tourist-ing"!  I've been here 2 months now and still not actually done all that much in terms of the "Hawera Must-Do" list.  But today it was sunny and I had books to pick up at the library and I decided that I might as well climb the water tower.  The water tower is the opposite corner from the library and I'd already found a parking spot on main street to boot.

Source

Originally called 'Te Hawera' by the Maori people many years ago, which means "the burnt place", after a rivalry in which one tribe surprised the other in the dead of night and burned the village to the ground ensuring there were no survivors.  When the European settlers arrived the fires didn't stop.  "In 1884 a hotel was razed, in 1888 a large fire destroyed five businesses, and in 1912 a particularly disastrous fire destroyed a large proportion of the main street area. This last event resulted in insurance companies demanding better fire fighting capacity for the town." The 168 foot water tower was finished in 1914 and a month later an earthquake caused it to lean considerably.  Fortunately, they were able to almost entirely correct it, now it only leans by about 3 inches.  I might have to go up again some other day when Mt. Taranaki isn't covered by clouds...

Milan Restaurant, the building in the right-hand corner,
has excellent Indian food!

Where I get my groceries :)

Other expeditions I've made since arriving include an unplanned visit to the Hollard Gardens in Kaponga.  I'd been attempting to visit Dawson Falls, but as I was getting ready to drive the last 6km, with Sam in the back of the car, I was deterred by this ill-fated sign:

Note that under "No Dogs" it says "not even in your car"

I gave a big sigh.  I stared at the sign.  I took a picture of the sign.  I turned to look at Sam, and said, "Thanks a lot!", and promptly did a U-Turn. I had taken a detour, to fill the gas tank in the town of Eltham on our way there, so I was acutely aware of the expense of this wasted trip (I paid $7.68 per gallon).  As the GPS directed me back to Hawera, I saw the sign for the gardens and decided I was already here, I should pop in for a visit.  It was small, but nice despite the winter season, and it was free.  

Passing through the tiny town of Manaia, the old post office just begged for its photo to be taken, so I had to stop.  Since I'd already gone to the effort to get out of the car to get a picture I decided to check out a couple of the shops in town as well.  I'd noticed the large factory, but the name didn't mean anything to me so I ignored it.  While chatting with the proprietor of one of the shops she asked if I'd visited the bakery.  I'd told her I had not, and that I wasn't even aware there was one.  She then informed me that Yarrows is quite well known in New Zealand and their baked goods are delicious.  Maybe my ill-fated trip wasn't so ill-fated after all?  According to their website they produce "a wide range of world-class frozen bakery products supplying major wholesale and foodservice customers in New Zealand, Australia and throughout much of Asia."  Since it was near closing time all the items in the shop were on sale, buy 2 get 1 free.  The croissant and danish were the best I have tasted in a very long time.  When I mentioned to the ladies at craft that I had been to the bakery they all had stories of stocking their freezers with bread and sweets from Yarrows...

As for Eltham, I'm not sure it has a claim to fame, but I did find this lovely mural...