Whanganui
Spend an hour or two in one of NZ’s better natural history museums. Te Atihaunui-a-Pāpārange Māori exhibits include an amazing waka (canoe), …
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Whanganui
Before Whanganui was Whanganui, it was Petre, a town built at the mouth of the river in 1940. As one of New Zealand's oldest towns (and the fifth-largest until 1936), it's an amalgamation of Māori culture, heritage buildings – take a 60-minute self-guided tour with the free Whanganui Heritage Guide from the i-SITE – and a thriving local art community.
Attractions
Must-see attractions
Whanganui
The elegant old neoclassical Sarjeant Gallery building in Queens Park is closed for earthquake-proofing. In the interim, the gallery's estimable art…
Whanganui
The pick of Whanganui's many glass studios. Watch glass-blowers working, check out the gallery, take a one-day glass-blowing course ($290, four people max…
Whanganui
Across City Bridge from downtown Whanganui, this elevator was built with grand visions for Durie Hill’s residential future. Beyond an entrance lined with…
Whanganui
The historical displays here are interesting, but everyone's here for the PS Waimarie, the last of the Whanganui River paddle steamers. In 1900 it was…
Whanganui
Across the City Bridge from town and 1km towards the sea is the Putiki Church (aka St Paul’s Memorial Church). It’s unremarkable externally, but just like…
Whanganui
Follow the Whanganui River's western riverbank seawards for 8km and you'll arrive in Castlecliff, a wonderfully low-key beach 'burb dominated by a huge…
Whanganui
Kai Iwi is a wild ocean frontier, strewn with black sand, a ruined WWII gun emplacement and masses of driftwood (you might see locals collecting it for…
Guidebooks
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