ROAD TRIP
On the road
DELIGHTS Tim Warrington LV FKDVHG IURP :HOOLQJWRQ WR :DLURD E\ ZLOG ZHDWKHU
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ccording to the weather forecast, there’s a tiny piece of blue sky somewhere north and I am determined to find it. From Wellington, I will tiptoe through the rainsodden Manawatu Gorge and head inland along the Classic New Zealand Wine Trail then on to Wairoa and the legend of the golden fish and chips. It’s slow going at first, skirting slips and earthworks from the storm. I’m heading for Woodville, but my thirsty, troublesome Fiat begs to stop in Featherston to join a smorgasbord of drivers filling up at the pumps. A taciturn mechanic hammers violently at my broken wiper. He seems surprised when it falls off, then shoos me towards the nearby Everest Café while he sorts repairs.
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Despite the roll-neck weather, I perch outside to soak up the picture of the world autumn has daubed with umber and vermillion. A hedgehog, fat as butter, totters along the pavement. Drunk? We are in pinot territory. Or simply disorientated by the storm? I offer it a saucer of milk. I sip my latte, delighting in the restorative properties of the bracing Arctic southerlies which recharge me for another stint behind the wheel. My prickly friend seems rejuvenated too, and wanders off. Mr Feather’s Den: Oddities & Delights is an unexpected treasure. A cluster of taxidermied mice catches my attention. Give me a stuffed rodent in a full ballerina skirt and I’m on board; Mermouse