Masterton

Like many small towns in New Zealand, Masterton still boasts a proper high street that is pedestrian-friendly and lined with shops, cafes and pubs. At its north end lies Queen Elizabeth Park, a large "publick space" that maintains, in spite of its name, a distinctly Victorian air. Wandering its tree lined paths, one encounters formal gardens, duck ponds and a miniature railway before arriving at the park's centerpiece, a cricket oval set among centenarian pines, elms and even the occasional redwood. It was against one of these latter that I sat to enjoy the world's most prolix and least intuitive sport, but not before I had toured the park in its entirety.

Adjacent to the cricket oval, elderly couples in matching white outfits engaged in serious-looking matches of lawn bowling and croquet. Next to these facilities--and a testament to the practicality of the park's design--I noted a cemetery. From here, I crossed the Waipoua River on an ancient swinging bridge and followed the footpath between the east bank and inexplicable paddocks of red and fallow deer--maintained, a sign indicated, by the Wairarapa Deerstalkers Association. On the park's northwestern fringes, the bucolic theme unraveled further as traffic plodded by the skate ramp and mini-golf course, presumably recent inclusions.