Tirau

Tirau sits at a highway junction and by the 1990s was the kind of town people drove through without slowing. What changed it was corrugated iron: a local began making large sculptures from it, the council and businesses took the idea up, and the town now has an information centre shaped like a giant sheepdog, a wool shop shaped like a sheep, and dozens of smaller iron figures, signs and facades along the main street. It is deliberate, commercial and completely unpretentious, and it worked - the town has a row of antique shops, galleries and cafes that exist because traffic now stops. Whether it reads as inventive or as kitsch is a matter of taste, and both verdicts are common. The name means place of many cabbage trees. It sits within easy reach of Matamata and the Hobbiton set, and most people pass through on the way between Auckland and Rotorua.

What you actually see

• The sheepdog and sheep - the two large corrugated-iron buildings.
• The iron sculptures - dozens of smaller figures and facades along the street.
• The antique shops - the trade that followed the traffic stopping.
• The junction position - on the main Auckland-Rotorua route.

When to go

Any time; it is a highway stop rather than a destination. An hour covers it. Shops keep normal retail hours.

Honest expectations

It is a main-street stop, and the appeal is entirely the corrugated iron - visitors expecting more find an hour is generous. Traffic on SH1 runs right through it. Parking is roadside.

Nearby

Matamata and Hobbiton are west; Rotorua and Putaruru are south.