Masterton, New Zealand

“Let’s Google a city I have lived in to see if it looks worth visiting”

I was born in Masterton, New Zealand and I have quite fond memories of the place. A small country town surrounded by other smaller country towns, and farms; mountains on the horizon and a short drive to the cold and windy coast where we used to have a beach house.

I find that when you haven’t been somewhere, in this age of information overload many of us rely on the Internet for that final decision whether we visit or not. Not only that but where the site comes in a Google search is important. I have noticed that many of the sites for places in this region are not particularly informative nor does anyone source cover the full gamut of the things you need to know, or should visit while travelling. That isn’t saying there aren’t any good Websites or online sources, but you do need to search.

This brings me back to Masterton. I thought I would try a search and see what the top Google results were; maybe see some photos that being back some of the very good childhood memories.

hhmmmm....

Masterton... The Heart of the Wairarapa – oh dear... a bungy jumping Kiwi!
Masterton.co.nz – oh dear... a banner for the Wairarapa Womens Refuge!
Poor old Castle Point, which I remember as a sleepy little fishing village with huge 50 cent bags of lollies, doesn’t do much better – Castlepoint – a Coastal New Zealand Settlement
Carterton and Greytown possibly do a little better, but only just!

I think there is a lot to be said for Councils or Governments having some control over domain names and content that give the impression of being an official Website for a region. For every site that displays positives there are 10, 50, 100 more that can make a region look like a place most would have little desire to visit. Everywhere benefits from tourism and when some choose destinations via a single mouse click there isn’t much that differentiates one location from another. It is the results that turn up on the first page of Google that can tip the scale.