Garston

Garston's charm is in it's sparsity. The impression it gives borders upon Scandinavian, with minimalist utility overlaid in a trim confidence. There's not much here, but what is here, stands out.

The town's solidly entrenched Art Deco Hotel is balanced, across the road, by a signpost erected out of sheer pride, that Garston, is New Zealand's 'most inland' town. No mean feat in a country with 15,000 kilometres of coastline. Other than that, there is a super shiny American AirStream caravan, converted to the purposes of coffee, decorated with Banksy style street-art. It calls itself Trailer Sixty - 6 - a reference to State Highway 6 and it's USA theme, in the same way as Route 6 cafe in Lumsden.

Garston Stables, aka 'Hunny Shop' does triple duty as a honey retailer, art gallery and a furniture shop. Surprisingly, considering the locale, most of the furnishing treasures in the store arrive by ship from overseas. Even the church at Garston is a bit special, it was designed by FW Petre, more famed for cathedrals and was one of his smaller buildings, but he didn't skimp on the fabulous bright leadlights. Smaller still is the Post Office, faultless in it's simplicity.

Logging trucks and campervans thunder by on the highway, which is parallel with the old rail line, where Garston's proud little station, still stands functional should the need arise to use it. Sheltered by mountains and solidly Southland, Garston is worth a coffee stop to celebrate 'inland-ness' and immaculate sparseness.