If you’re in Wanganui and looking for a bit of a stretch, this will do nicely. Especially if you have a dog, as many of the other local attractions like Bushy Park are closed to dogs. This is a circuit of just over 2 hours fatman time, including photos. Peter, Alice and I started at the southern side of the Dublin St bridge, crossed the bridge and walked west as far as the City bridge, crossed again, and headed back down to the van on the south bank.
In Sepember 2007, Mayor Michael Laws officially opened the walkway project, and it is ongoing
Who exactly are we sharing it with?
We park the van and hitch Alice to a lead, something she is not all that keen on with so much to explore that is new. Would we like to go tramping on a lead. Not really.
Peter volunteers to look after her while I do my stuff with the camera.
Looks like the Topp Twins have been here before us…
On the far side a number of small groynes are placed at right angles to the bank to prevent damage to the river bank. A pair of ducks has occupied one of them.
We reach the other side and head west. It’s a broad path, and one that we share with cyclists. This section is still very new and the new grass is roped off until it is a little more robust.
For all the apparent user-friendliness of the track, a small shrine is a reminder that we are living in an uncertain age.
Tania McKenzie was raped and murdered here in 2005. Her killer was sentenced to life imprisonment with a 19 year non-parole period.
In March of this year, the council approved a permanent bronze plaque to be placed at this site: (from the Wanganui Chronicle)
Council supports permanent memorial to Tania McKenzie – 17/03/2009
Mayor Michael Laws today announced that the Wanganui District Council has approved the placement of a permanent plaque in memory of the late Tania McKenzie.
“Wanganui was shocked by the brutal murder of Tania on her 20th birthday in 2005 and the council wants to support the McKenzie family in ensuring there is a permanent memorial to Tania,” Mayor Laws said.
“Tania’s family and friends have maintained an unofficial memorial to her on the Somme Parade riverbank near the Dublin Street Bridge and the council agrees that it is appropriate to place a permanent bronze plaque at that site.
“Many of us didn’t know Tania personally but the whole community recognises the terrible loss suffered by her family. I’m pleased to have been able to talk with Tania’s mum Naelene about the memorial and offer her the council’s support.”
At its meeting on Monday, the council approved the erection of a plaque with the following wording:
In loving memory of
Tania Rebecka McKenzie
7 January 1985 – 7 January 2005
“no shadow can extinguish her light”
loved daughter, granddaughter, sister & friend
It is a warm afternoon, but it suddenly feels a little colder.
There are some wonderful houses along here, and the roses are just perfect.
On the riverbank someone has been creative with the seating, but for all it’s beauty it lacks a certain functionality for buttocks such as mine, and no, you’re not going to get a photo. Perhaps it’s designed for canoodling.
Out one end and in the other, as the saying goes.
That’s a more effective looking seat. There has been a lot of care go into this project and it shows.
A concrete groyne hosts a gull.
We continue along beside the road.
Across the river, far up on the hill, an unusual design of house catches our attention. It occurs to me that the camera is sometimes better than a telescope for capturing distant information.
Across the road, a different kind of modern makes its statement.
Just along here, the walkway drops below the road and follows the riverbank more closely.
Over the way is an older house
with some marvellous examples of intricate colonial lace.
We continue beside the river towards the sea scout hall. A number of jetties host a variety of boats, and most of them send a clear message that the riverfront is not necessarily always the haunt of the righteous. It is a dramatic contrast to marinas around most of the country, where the piers leading out to the boats are accessible to all.
Another riverboat tells much the same story. Notice the long, narrow beam design.
A bronze plaque set into a large boulder commemorates the first European landing in the area. Question. What happens to plaques like this if the Minister gives the nod to Whanganui as the correct spelling?
A few yards further on, the information board for the river steamer, Waimarie, is already showing signs of the orthographic concerns that exercise many of the locals.
Perhaps this plaque on the City Bridge stonework is a trifle premature:
But I am getting ahead of myself.
This spot must have been in the old times a natural landing place: A few yards away from the rock commemorating the European arrival is another, in Maori.
We head down some steps by the sea cadet hall
(not much room for an H there…)
past the Waimarie
and along the boardwalk. It’s a pleasant afternoon. Up ahead you can see the City Bridge.
I’m a little puzzled about what prompted this river access. Unless, perhaps it’s for chidren who wish to paddle. It doesn’t seem geared to small boat access.
Alice thinks she has the answer. It’s for dogs, of course. Like everything else that DOC hasn’t assumed control of.
Well, that tastes a whole lot better than the river….
A few yards away, on one of the bridge supports, there are levels marking historic floods. So far, the 2004 floods have not made it to the list. Their brunt was borned by the Whangaehu in whose headwaters most of the rain occurred. Earlier, Peter had pointed out areas further south near Turakina where he had assisted in animal rescue at the time.
To the right you can see the beginning of the latest phase of riverbank protection, repairing damage done during the 2004 floods. During excavation for this a Maori midden was discovered, and work was called off while an archaeological team was called in to evaluate it. A local cartoon has them discovering amongst the shells and so forth a partially buried item that they cautiously identify as an H.
We head up towards the shops
and U-turn across the City Bridge.
Up to the left is the Durie Tower, a local tourist must-see, which somehow, I forego the pleasure of.
Hang a left at the end of the bridge.
It is spring, and for those seeking wildflowers, the river bank has them in profusion.
Also featuring along here and elsewhere is the ngaio, the native tree which, according to Maori legend, is the tree that you see upon the moon.
Here you can see the completed riverbank reinforcing, begun after the 2004 floods, to limit further damage.
Also featuring as part of the planting here and further on is a particularly vicious palm tree.
Why you would even consider planting these so close to a footpath beggars belief.
Closeup the problem is clearer. Civic administrations with any sense have been systematically removing these from public places for some time.
But I’m getting ahead of myself again. Across the road is a nod in the direction of our Pacifika heritage. There’s a story there, too, I’ll be bound.
We carry on between the river and the road for a bit,
and reach an area where public concern has demanded expression.
Not even a please ….
We turn off into the park where the palm trees hug the path. We follow a ridge, which presumably is some kind of protection from the river for the park to our right.
Beside the path, karaka is in flower
and to our right a massively-trunked camellia
A little further along, an oak tree and a totara provide one example of cultural co-existence.
We continue along the ridge
past an exotic playground for children
and back to the river
where Old Yaller greets us.
Where do they dispose of all those plastic baggies full of doggy doos?
When I grow up, I want to be a doggy doo collector. Yeah, right!
Come to think of it I could do with a Tui or tu right now.
and there up ahead is the Dublin St Bridge. Fatman time for the trip, a touch over 2 hours. A very pleasant stroll for a spring afternoon. Thank you Mayor Michael and Council.