The bakery that’s worth the detour

New Zealand’s state highways are secretly a bakery trail. Between any two cities sit a handful of small towns, and in at least one of them is a counter doing better baking than places charging twice as much in the big smoke — because in a small town, being good is the only marketing there is.

The detour calculus

The rule of thumb: a genuinely good stop is worth fifteen minutes of detour, and the tell is local cars outside at odd hours. Tourists stop where the signs are; locals stop where the pies are. Follow the utes.

Tourists stop where the signs are; locals stop where the pies are.