A family funeral earlier in the week saw us heading to Whanganui, a river city about 180kms north west of our home.
Evidence of autumn still showed itself in the bright sunshine and against the blue sky of the day.
But glimpses of spring also were evident in very early spring blossom and a tiny black lamb. (Sorry no photos from a moving car)
At a major highway junction is the small town of Bulls. It is a great place to stop for refreshments and a comfort stop. It is the one place in New Zealand where you can get milk from bulls.
The local dairy (a small convenience store) has picked up on this quirky notion.
Elsewhere around the town are names of facilities with creative names ending in “bull” such as these:
The Plunket Rooms in Bulls is so typical of such rooms dotted all over New Zealand, especially in rural and small town New Zealand.
We had lunch in the old Bank of New Zealand in Whanganui, refurbished now in keeping with the era in which it was built.
And in keeping with times past this car was at the church where the funeral was held.
ordinarygoodness 
You funeral trip was memor-a-bull.
:-))
Very amusing. Had no idea that Bulls made such good use of its name. Sorry to hear that there has been a death in the family. Hope all is well.
I think Bulls developed this “theme” some years back to assist with attracting tourists to the town when one of the many rural down-turns happened. My husband’s elderly uncle died aged 84. He was very sick so we are relieved that he is no longer suffering. Thank you for your concerns:-)
🙂
The leaves were lovely, and this brings back memories of when we were at Ohakea
This tree was in Otaki by the Information Centre. I think I saw similar ones near Ohakea.
Sorry to hear of your bereavement Lynley. I like the old bank building; it’s so elegant.
Thank you Juliet. The funeral was for a relative of my husbands who had been very ill. The refurbishment of the old bank had been beautifully executed. Sadly the acoustics made enjoying social time very difficult.
Sorry to hear of your family’s loss. I love your first photo of the glorious autumn colour! Amazing that those leaves have stayed there so long. Bull is certainly using up every possible play on its name!! It must be an interesting experience for the people who live there and have to give their address to people!
Thanks for your condolences Jo. I was staggered to see autumn leaves of such colour still on a tree in the depths of winter and after all the stormy winds we have had in the past weeks. Either the bright sunlight had washed out some of the colour or the leaves have lost some transluscence but the photo did not really do justice to the strength of colour in those leaves. I only have a point and shoot camera and my technical knowledge is zip really. As for Bulls – crazy, corny humour but it does get travellers to stop to take photos and end up spending money in the eateries and browsing the craft and antique/boutique shops. I see on the Bulls FB page that it is the only place in the world where you get milk from Bulls! The intersection is for State Highway 1, which is the main route through the North Island. We went off on the SH to Wanganui at this point.