New Zealand on a Very Tight Budget Day 15

Well we got what we wanted - no one came! But we awoke to a thick fog and couldn't see a thing - Hubris, Hey? The drive along the remainder of the Forgotten World Highway was as a result very mystical but no less impressive as a result of the sheer engineering feat of its construction. The workmen were clearing away rock falls and we were skirting round wash outs just as well we didn't have a view to distract us.
We closed in on Stratford - famous for its timber-framed glockenspiel which chimes something to do with Romeo and Juliet. Nearly every street has a Shakespearean reference - but that is far as the similarity goes.
Here we learned a fundamental truth of NZ life. Bakeries do not sell bread! they sell pies and sandwiches and all day breakfasts!
On the outskirts is a really very good Pioneer Village with buildings from all over the area laid out in a very convincing and attractive way.
I usually find these places quite poignant but having visited the real thing at Bodie Ghost Town I'm more pathos-proof than I used to be. It was also rather upbeat, good value and deserted.
We then drove up the cloud covered Mt Taranaki to the Dawson Falls Visitors Centre but it was closed and we are still feeling tired so we headed for the coast and the fantastic Kaupokonui Beach Camp - also nearly deserted, the camp host has given us the best pitch on the site and raised the Union Jack in our honour. We've swum in the river, the clouds have cleared from the mountain summit and for once there does not seem to be too many insects. Hoorah!