Pastries in Picton

One of the best bakeries we found in all of New Zealand’s South Island on our visit in April ’05 was Picton Village Bakery (46 Auckland St., Picton; phone 64 [0] 3 573 7082). It’s on the corner of Dublin and Auckland streets, about two blocks from the train station and the ferry landing.

They bake outstanding pastries and make fresh sandwiches (US$3-$5) on homemade bread — perfect for taking on day hikes on the Queen Charlotte Track, on the train to Christchurch or on the ferry to Wellington. (Don’t settle for the Subway sandwich shop in the train station or the usual bad food on the ferry.)

They also have an extensive variety of reasonably priced, hot, homemade meat pies, which we didn’t try but which were selling rapidly at lunchtime.

CINDY KENNETT
Oquossoc, ME