Wellington Region - New Zealand - page 693

culent, crisp, charred and fried, along with lashings of olive oil and wedges of lemon.
Food so colourful you'll forget you're in grey-town.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Masterton & Around
Masterton (population 20,100) is the Wairarapa's utilitarian hub, an unselfconscious
town getting on with its business. Its main claim to immortality is the 50-year-old sheep-
shearing competition, the international Golden Shears ( www.goldenshears.co.nz ) , held an-
nually in the first week of March.
Masterton spins the wool out a bit longer at the Wool Shed ( www.thewoolshednz.com ;
Dixon St; adult/child/family $8/2/15; 10am-4pm) , a baaaa-loody marvellous little mu-
seum dedicated to NZ's sheep-shearing and wool-production industries. It's also a good
place to get yourself a home-knit hat.
Next door is the region's foremost cultural institution, the small but rather splendid
Aratoi Wairarapa Museum of Art & History ( www.aratoi.co.nz ; cnr Bruce & Dixon Sts; admis-
sion by donation; 10am-4.30pm) , which hosts an impressive program of exhibitions and
events (and has a very nice shop!).
Opposite the Wool Shed and Aratoi is Queen Elizabeth Park (Dixon St) , perfect for
stretching your legs. Feed the ducks, dump someone on the see-saw, have a round of
minigolf or practise your high catches on the cricket oval. Refuel with a magnificent
meat pie, purchased from Masterton's notable bakery, the Ten O'Clock Cookie (180
Queen St; 7am-4.30pm Mon-Fri, 8am-2.30pm Sat) .
If none of this is sounding particularly rock and roll, we've got news for you. Master-
ton has an absolutely ace music venue. King Street Live ( www.kingstreetlive.co.nz ; 4pm
late Thu-Sat, plus other event nights) lures a diverse range of performers to play in its prop-
erly outfitted and professionally run, acoustically excellent, groovalicious, complete-
with-garden-bar music venue, co-owned by gentleman-player Warren Maxwell (of le-
gendary Trinity Roots - play catch-up where you can).
There are a few interesting sights further afield, one of which is Castlepoint , on the
coast 68km east of Masterton. It's a truly awesome, end-of-the-world place, with a reef,
the lofty 162m-high Castle Rock, largely safe swimming and walking tracks. There's an
easy (but sometimes ludicrously windy) 30-minute return walk across the reef to the
lighthouse, where 70-plus shell species are fossilised in the cliffs. Another one-hour re-
turn walk runs to a huge limestone cave (take a torch), or take the 1½-hour return track