Carterton, New Zealand

Carterton is a small town in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and the seat of the Carterton District . It lies in a farming area of the Wairarapa in New Zealand's North Island. It is located southwest of Masterton and northeast of Wellington. The town has a population of )|Charles CarterWellington]], who was in charge of the building of the Black Bridge over the Waiohine River south of the town. The town describes itself as New Zealand's daffodil capital, holding a Daffodil Festival each year on the second Sunday in September.HistoryCarterton claimed to be the first place in the world with a transsexual mayor, Georgina Beyer. Beyer went on to become the MP for Wairarapa.On 7 January 2012, a hot air balloon crashed just north of the town, killing eleven people and making headlines around the world. The balloon came into contact with a high-voltage power line supplying the town, resulting in the balloon catching fire and the town losing power briefly.LandmarksCarterton's town clock is located on High Street next to the post office. The existing tower was put into operation in September 1962, replacing the original clock tower atop the post office that was damaged in the 24 June 1942 Wairarapa earthquake.The Bank of New South Wales, showing confidence in Carterton, built a beautifully ornate bank building on the corner of Park Road and High Street North in 1912. This building is listed in the historic buildings list found in the Wairarapa Combined District Plan. In 1982, the Bank of New South Wales became Westpac and continued to occupy the building until a devastating earthquake in Christchurch (6.3 on the Richter scale) severely damaged many unreinforced masonry buildings in February 2011. After an unfavourable engineers' assessment the bank shifted out of the building approximately 150 metres south in High Street North. The building requires extensive earthquake strengthening in the near future.