Lunch Stop in Taihape, New Zealand

Tweet

Next stop on my road trip north yesterday through the central North Island was at Taihape (loosely pronounced Ty-happy) for lunch. This is a tiny town of only about 2000, but an important one as it's on State Highway 1 and is a central stopping place for refreshments and such for those travelling north and south. I'd hoped to get a photo of the main street, but as this is a long weekend it was extremely busy and parking was at a premium. Instead I headed a short distance out of town to this lovely old-fashioned roadside restaurant. The food is not bad, the coffee passable, the service friendly and there's plenty of parking. Taihape is an important railway stop and was important as a base in the building of the main trunk line in the late 1800s. These days rail is not such a popular mode of transport and coaches or buses serve the town as transport. Taihape is known as the gumboot capital of the world, a self appointed title. I'm not sure if they're called gumboot elsewhere - galoshes, rubber boots, wellingtons? Taihape serves a wide reaching farming area and gumboot of course are worn in wet muddy weather. Each year the town hosts a gumboot festival, the main attraction being a gumboot throwing competition. I'll try and get a photo of a large gumboot sculpture on my way home. So, there I was, about halfway through my journey by lunchtime. I hope you're enjoying following me on a map.