The Church at Otane

The Church of St James The Apostle was consecrated an Anglican Church on 21st January 1894.   Although I can find no references to dates on the internet the last Vicar of Otane ceased to hold that office in 1982.  The church is now an inter-denominational church (which seems quite common in rural New Zealand).  The church is attractive and appears to be well looked after and the  attractive but unremarkable stained glass window's provenance is recounted inside.  However what struck me was the window at the opposite end of the church which I thought was one of the most beautiful windows I have ever seen in a church.

Unfortunately it was difficult to photograph and describing it is even more difficult.  By using the tress outside for contrast the content of the window appears.  The pattern is shown by raised material which appears to have been applied to the glass in the way one would apply something like building sealant!  The opaque areas may have been acid etched.  I shall have to do some homework on this one.  In the meantime I thought I'd share it with you.  If anyone does know the process used I should be glad to hear.

The Paper Mulberry: Revisited

In February I blogged about one of my favourite eateries: The Paper Mulberry at Te Aute near Otane on State Highway 2 on the Napier side of Waipawa.

I went to Woodmallets in Otane today to have an adjustment made to the handle of my croquet mallet so I called in for lunch on the way there and coffee on the way back.

One of the lovely things about the place (which was absolutely packed for lunch) is that you are not a number. For lunch my table marker was a frog and for coffee it was a little spotted pig. I like that touch.

The Paper Mulberry

Near Otane (a community about 30 minutes drive south from Napier on State Highway 2 to Wellington) is a café called The Paper Mulberry. It is a wonderful place: interesting, informal, comfortable, welcoming and serving lovely food and excellent teas and coffee and, in addition, a second-hand book shop in a back room. How wonderful is that. You will gather from that that I enjoy going there.

McCauley's Store & Café, Otane.

The main street of Otane - wider than the State Highway off which it runs

McCauley's Store & Cafe with The Handbag outside

One of the many things (in addition to public loos) that New Zealand does very well is cafés. Yesterday I went to Otane to a maker of croquet mallets (of which more in a later posting). In the main street (Higginson Street - to me a seemingly unlikely name for a one street town in rural New Zealand) is McCauley's Store & Café. I had the best Americano coffee that I can recall having. I also finished the crossword whilst I was having it but I'm sure that didn't influence my view. There were actually quite a few other customers although I managed to avoid them when taking photos. I do, however, wish that my Brother had been there to do the crossword with me and enjoy the ambience.