A traveler just never knows what is going to be around the next corner.  Each trip has its unusual little bit of quirkiness, to make every day a special adventure.  Case in point is Tirau, in the Waikato region of New Zealand, population 690. 

Leaving Auckland for a few days, we had a five hour drive ahead of us, with a planned stop midway to check out Rotorua, a popular destination because of its abundant thermal hot-springs.  Tirau wasn’t even on our radar as a place to stop.