Katikati - Mural Town

Katikati has almost 70 murals scattered around the town, all depicting scenes from local history. It started in 1990 when an idea was born, inspired by the Chemainus Murals in British Columbia . In 1991, the Katikati Open-Air Art Inc. was formed and the first four murals were under way. 

You can pick up a booklet from the Katikati i-site that will tell you where all the murals can be found, and it gives you some information about each of them as well. 

In 1897, the local Anglican Vicar farmed ostriches to supplement his income. Their frequent escapes were the inspiration for this mural. (This is the left half of the mural.)

A colourful piano sat on the main street.

Dave and Lucy found some rock solid locals to interact with.

This interesting sculpture (looking like a pristine egg in a steampunk cradle) was outside the museum. It's the winner of the sculpture competition in 2017 based on the theme: "The Future is Our Children". Every two years, Katikati Open Air Art host the NZ Mural & Art Festival. Since 2006, this week-long event has celebrated the arts and, in particular, the murals of Katikati.

Another mural. This one was in a narrow alley and not so easy to photograph. Titled "Toy Parade", it illustrates toys from the time of the Irish settlers in 1875. All the murals are numbered in order of their creation which makes it easy to find their description on the booklet. This one was "37", although the number three looked more like a crooked question mark!

A peaceful spot not too far from the busy main street.

While staying in Katikati, we spent time with friends (from when we lived in Taranaki about 20 years ago), enjoying a meal together at the Talisman Hotel one night. It was popular place!

More murals . . .

I really like the way some of the murals have something in front of the wall that fits in with the mural scene. For example, the old farm equipment you can see in this photo. And in the very first photo above, the bunches of grass planted in front of the wall to mimic the grass painted in the foreground of the mural.

Another peaceful spot right in the main street of Katikati.

This mural was one of our favourites. Probably because when we first saw it, it tricked us into thinking there were people standing there looking at it. In fact, this entire mural—including the white frame edges—is one flat piece of board. Very well done. I've included a couple of close-ups that show more clearly the 3-D effect the artist has created.

I'll write a bit more about Katikati in my next blog.

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Taupo

Walking long the waterfront in Taupo. The flat pontoon you can see on the water is a tourist attraction. It has a golf tee on it and the challenge is to drive off from the shore and get a hole in one.

There was too much cloud cover to see the mountains today. But there's a photo of them in my previous blog post on "Five Mile Bay".

There's always plenty happening in Taupo. 

We were staying out at Five Mile Bay and it rained quite a lot while we were staying there. One of our neighbours woke up to find they were parked up in their own personal lake! One day between showers, we went for a walk along the lake towards Taupo.

There's a great walkway/cycleway that goes right through where we were camping. It's very popular.

A shag drying its wings on a rock near the shore.

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Five Mile Bay

There's a camping spot at Five Mile Bay just outside of Taupo where self-contained vehicles can park up for free for four nights in any given calendar month. It was a stunning day when we arrived. The mountains were glorious. 

The next morning was frosty, promising another lovely day. 

Our neighbours.

This was how close we were to the lake.

Acacia Bay, across the water, slowly disappeared from sight as the fog lifted.

That evening, the skies were red.

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Waipukurau

After arriving back in the North Island, we started to head north towards Tauranga. Via Napier and Taupo. One of our first stops was Levin. The weather was wet and cold. I think it was miserable all over the island really. As well as this, my workload (job) was quite heavy, and consequently I didn't take a lot of photos in Levin. Except this one. Who could resist this wonderful wee caravan at Gipsy Caravans. We called in there to replace our levellers (those things you run one set of wheels up on to try and make the rig level). Well, one of them had cracked and we needed a new one before it gave out altogether and we ended up having to sleep on a slope. Gipsy Caravans were wonderful! They told us that the levellers should have held up a much heavier rig than ours and as they were less than a year old, made some phone calls and managed to get us a new set for free. Very happy. Thank you, Gipsy Caravans, Levin!

After Levin, we travelled north towards Dannevirke. We went through Ashurst and over the saddle. It's a windy road, up and down, but apparently better than the Pahiatua Track. And now that the Manawatu Gorge is closed, well, this is the best option. The weather was still miserable, but these wind turbines on the east side of the saddle are just magnificent.

Just look at them all! And look at that sky! Waiting to dump on us again . . . .

We stayed at the Dannevirke Golf Club so that we could catch up with some special friends who travelled across from Fielding to see us. Dave and Mark had a game of golf while Sandra, Lucy & I had a great walk around the golf course.

Although we could have travelled further on the next day, we'd arranged to have our mail forwarded to Waipukurau, so that was our next stop. We happened to arrive on the weekend, so it was a couple of days waiting for the Post Shop to open.

We went for a walk one afternoon (between the showers). All rugged up against the cold. And these are some of the sights.

Waipikarau's claim to fame.

The back of the train station.

And this is where we stayed—in the car park of the Leopard Hotel. Although a car park of a hotel may not sound very exciting, it has some great advantages:
1. You're on solid ground, so if it's raining, you're not going to be in the mud or get bogged down. You'll always be able to get out of there.
2. You're well off the road, safe.
3. You get to meet the friendly locals. Sometimes. We find the smaller the town, the friendlier the locals.
4. You can usually purchase a well-priced bar meal and have a break from cooking.
5. You can drink and not have to drive.
6. You can beat your husband at pool. Again. ;) Hehe. (It happens so infrequently, it needs to be recorded/celebrated.)

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