Vintage Whanganui

Whanganui is a town on the west coast of the North Island, about three hours drive from Wellington. Every year they have a vintage weekend. We went on a blisteringly hot Sunday and had a great time. The photos here concentrate on the transport on display but there was also a market, food stalls and entertainment. This video gives a general idea of what it was like but it is from a previous year – the tram was damaged by a flood late last year and is out of action.

We started with a ride behind this traction engine.

 

There was a second one taking passengers on a 15 minute trip around the CBD.

 

The restored railcar Tokomaru was running trips up to the site of the old East Town Railway Workshops. There is a video here.

 

A couple of planes were flying around overhead.

 

The river plays a central part in Whanganui life. This steam launch was puttering up and down.

The paddle steamer Waimarie has been restored and operates cruises up the river.

 

It had a race with this waka. The waka won but I think it might have been fixed – the steamer seemed to slow down before the finish line.

 

There were lots of vintage/classic cars. This is the oldest there, a 1910 Buick Roadster 14B.

 

The obligatory Morris Minor

and a small selection of the others.

You don’t often see swallows on the ground. Maybe the heat was getting to this one.

 

A collection of super heroes in a brass band provided entertainment.

 

Finally an ancient mini-bus

and a steam truck. It must have been uncomfortable to drive, sitting right beside the boiler.

 

South Island Whistle-stop

This is a brief overview of our trip around the top of the South Island. We drove down on the ferry and spent three nights in St. Arnaud. The first night we were there a bit of a storm came through and the following morning there was a coating of snow on the peaks above Lake Rotoiti.

Luckily the fine weather returned quickly and we managed a couple of walks around the area. It's mainly beech forest down by the lake

with streams and waterfalls refreshed by the recent rain.

The lush vegetation under the forest canopy.

I liked the way the water and stones complement this duck swimming in the lake.

We went up the steep road to the lookout on the side of Mount Robert

and posed by the information board.

Then we header south via Maruia

through the Lewis Pass to Christchurch. Here we had a picnic and walk around Taylors Mistake.

The rebuild of the city seems to be gathering pace. I was glad to see the locals’ sense of humour is still alive.

Everywhere we went we endeavoured to find typical Kiwi culinary experiences for Ed to savour.

All too soon is was time to head north. We stopped for kai – koura in kaikoura.

Some kawau were sunning themselves on a rock

and nearby is the Ohau Point Fur Seal Sanctuary.

The rocks were crowded with family groups of kekeno – the pups would be about a month old I think.

Now Jen and Ed are back in London. Sam and Bex are in Melbourne and will be back in NZ next week. They are settling in Dunedin so we hope to see more of them there.