TE KUITI Te Kuiti, s more recent claim to fame is in the late 1900,s Jim Bolger, a Te Kuiti resident was Prime Minister. Jim Bolger leading the country brought some benefits to the community that might not have occurred otherwise. Te Kuiti is a rural town pretty much in the middle of the north island. Te Kuiti is the shearing capitol of NZ; the town promotes itself as the sheep shearing capital of the world and is host to the annual New Zealand National Shearing Championships. Not to be confused with ‘Golden Shears” event in Masterton. The "Shearing Capital of the World" contains the world's largest shearer, seven metres high. On April 1, 2006 the largest sheep show in the world took place here, with more than 2000 sheep. That said, Te Kuiti is a progressive town and that is evident with the treatment of the memorials and historic events. Te Kuiti is a modern town, so items of an historic nature do not exist Te Kuiti was noted as having only one traditional hotel. The Churches in Te Kuiti are of the modern era. The Te Kuiti museum (we think) is housed in the Waitomo cultural centre. The treatment of the War Memorials is first class. Te Kuiti is an interesting town and quite different to most in country NZ. Difficult to put a finger on that observation except that was how it is in the town Something is missing!!. Still stop off and have a coffee and your photo taken at the shearer.