Masterton is the main town of the Wairarapa and the largest settlement east of the Remutaka Range. It is a quiet, prosperous service town for the surrounding sheep country — the population is just over 20,000 — and has the unhurried, slightly old-fashioned feel of a place that grew up around the wool trade. For most visitors it is a base for the Wairarapa wine country to the south or for trips north to the Pukaha National Wildlife Centre.
The town's claim to fame, and probably the closest thing the Wairarapa has to a globally known event, is the Golden Shears — the world championships of sheep shearing, held every March since 1961. For four days the town fills with shearers from across the world competing for what is, in this corner of agricultural New Zealand, the equivalent of an Olympic gold medal. It is fierce, fast, and worth witnessing if you can time a visit.
The other reason to stop is Queen Elizabeth Park in the centre of town — fifteen hectares of trees, lakes, an aviary and an old miniature railway running on weekends. It is a properly Victorian town park, well kept, and one of the best of its kind in the country. North of town, Pukaha is one of the easiest places in New Zealand to see a wild kiwi feeding in daylight thanks to a captive-breeding nocturnal house.
Masterton sits at the end of the Wairarapa rail line from Wellington — a slow but scenic two-hour trip through the Remutaka Tunnel. Most visitors arrive by car.