Huntly
Approx 20 minutes north of the throbbing metropolis of Hamilton lies Huntly. Although it is on State Highway One and has the only two sets of stoplights in a 158km stretch, it could be aptly described as the place people accelerate to avoid. Its full of bogans and other like minded individuals. And until two years ago I never knew there was a slightly more upmarket (read: less shabby) side of the town across the river.

Its just another small NZ town that still hasn't quite gotten over the downturn in the 70s, followed by the downturn of the 80s, nor the downturn of the 90s, and more recently the financial crisis of last year. The largest construction in the town is a sign for a lower-class department store that closed down about 18 years ago. Outside the town, its the twin stacks of the power station, itself a prime example of the McDonalds Baroque style of architecture.

The town flooded in 1998, and the general feeling was the town had never looked so good.
Earlier this year the town was advised by an official leaflet drop that their inorganic rubbish collection (a yearly fixture) was to happen within a week. Result - within 2 days the entire town looked like the dustys had been on strike for the last 10 years. Only problem was - it was a hoax by some clever buggers. Townsfolk refused to take their rubbish back in, so the council had to run an inorganic.

Length - you can pass through in 5 minutes if the lights are with you and you aren't stuck behind an early 80s Commodore doing 40k....
(Sebulba continues to fight evil with evil....., Sun 1 Nov 2009, 8:35, 1 reply)

Makes the original Huntly sound like a paradise ...
www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/huntly/huntly/
( writerblock ... embedding disabled by request on, Sun 1 Nov 2009, 10:41, closed)