Market Day at Wanganui

“Big Breakfasts” at the camp cafe were a great start to the morning.  Six of us walked over at 9.00am to take advantage of a tasty social breakfast.  My choice was French Toast with bacon and banana, drizzled with maple syrup and the others all enjoyed their bacon, eggs, and assorted extras. That certainly set us up for the day.

  Don, Pamela, Carol, Graham, Jenny and Robin ready to eat breakfast

We took ourselves away from the camp later in the morning to visit Wanganui, just a short 15km drive away.  As luck would have it, the riverside market day was in full swing.  Stall were selling all the usual things, food and coffee to go, fresh veggies, a  bakery stall or two, clothes and wooden items.  It was lunchtime so we checked out the food stalls, and decided on Dotto French Crepes.  The young lady told us that her parents ran such a stall back home in France.   So when she moved out to New Zealand she imported four heavy crepe hot plates and set up business herself.  My crepe came with egg, spinach and cheese, and Robin chose banana and maple syrup.  They were both so tasty, and we sat down on a riverside bench to eat them and enjoy the view.  The area was very busy with plenty of family groups out enjoying the good weather as well

Dotto French Crepe stall at the market

Navigation on the Wanganui River played an important part in the early days with shallow bottomed boats plying trade along it’s length.  At this time this was the only way to travel from Auckland  to Wellington and the boats used were specially designed to traverse the whole of the Wanganui River. In the upper reaches of the river tunnel boats were used.  These were the fore-runner to the “Hamilton”  Jet boat system and as a result were years ahead of there time. A stainless steel globe on the river bank traces the route of the Wanganui River.

 

Wanganui River bank

The paddle steamer Waimarie (New Zealand’s last paddle steamer) pulled into the dock to disgorge passengers after a ride up river.  We didn’t have time for a ride today, but plan to come back later to spend a lot more time exploring this city and the surrounding area.  And go for a river boat ride too, that certainly looks like fun.

P S Waimarie