New Years Day 2015.
Traveling south I reached Te Kuiti at dusk and stopped for a rest. Walked around the town, breathed the air, made some photos.
The main street is a long row of 1920s shop fronts, largely intact, lined up across the road from the North Island Main Trunk Line. Some late-night fast food places were still open. A few people walking by but no one took any notice of me taking photos. I bought a bottle of mineral water at Hong Kong Fast Food and asked the man behind the counter if it was OK to take photos.
At the south end of town there is a marae perched on an awakward corner above the rail tracks. Te Kooti Arikirangi gave the carved house Te Tokanganui a Noho there to Nagti Maniapoto. They had given Te Kooti sanctuary from the government forces.
Just over the rail tracks from the marae is the world's largest statue of a shearer, seven metres tall, a strong man in a black singlet taking the wool of a sheep. Te Kuiti describes itself as the Shearing Capital of the World.
Waimete Rugby Club, on the Taupo road, is just on the edge of town. In the clubhouse carpark is an unusual and unexpected celebration of the rugby career of Colin Meads. A row of billboards showing blowups of b&w photos of some of the highpoints of his career. Heartfelt and surreal.
© John Steele Photography