I decided I needed a day out of Wellington, so I booked a bus ticket to spend the day with my friend Taane in Wanganui.
Fun Fact - Wanganui is one of two geographic features in New Zealand that has an alternative name - its officially Wanganui or Whanganui, both are official names.
Yesterday was the very first day of spring for 2012 and as you can see it was a simply beautiful day - the perfect day for a day trip.
Whanganui is a city that gets a bit of a bad wrap - but I really like it! The museum is great, the Sarjeant Gallery is one of my favourite art galleries and there is a really cool local art and craft market on Saturday mornings that Taane took me too.
One of my favourite things about Whanganui is the Durie Hill Elevator - it's a really old elevator, 97 years old! It runs through a hill and was originally build by some developers who were building a subdivision on the top of the hill. They wanted to encourage people to buy property on the top of the hill and so build the elevator so access to the city below wouldn't be difficult.
Guardians at the entrance of the lift.
You have to walk through this tunnel to get to the elevator - it would make a great set for a zombie movie.
You have to ring for the elevator - its costs $2 each way for the lift. I guess it could get a bit pricy if you were using the lift every day to get to and from work. But its a good price for a tourist on a day out.
Here's a view from the top of Durie Hill - you can see the Whanganui River.
On the top of the hill is a war memorial - you can climb the stairs to the top.
Here's the view from the top of the tower.
This photo of me isn't the best - the sun was in my eyes!
I actually wish to took more photos on my day out - I think that Whanganui is actually a pretty cool little place. Hopefully I can go back and visit Taane again soon - although he's off to the USA for 7 weeks in about 5 days (I'm Jealous!) so it won't be for a couple of months at least.
Finally, I had to share this with you all - to travel from Wellington to Whanganui, you need to change buses at a little town called Bulls. There are lots of small towns in New Zealand like Bulls and lots of them try to stand out somehow.
For Bulls - they really like to play up on their name, as this sign shows. Although it gives me a slight case of cultural cringe.
6 comments:
Yay for Wanganui! And for your splendid day out!!! I must make a note to take a drive down the coast next time I'm visiting the Naki. It's seriously been nearly 20 years since I was last there! *yikes* By the way, I know I've prob mentioned this before but those are seriously glood spectacles you are wearing!!!
That looks like a really good day out. Great photos, and the ones of you are lovely.
The Bull signpost really made me smile, especially the Indispense-a-Bull pharmacy! xxxx
Looks like a beautiful day out! Because I am super lame, I am absolutely pissing myself laughing at the Bulls sign. I just can't go past a bad pun!
Bulls looks like a place I would live. :-) I would have too much fun with the name.
And I have to say, if I ever came to visit you and flew all the way around the world to see you, and we went there, we would totally be taking zombie pictures in that tunnel. I promise you.
I've never been up there, sounds like a nice day out.
Love that sign in Bulls, gotta love little kiwi towns
You totally made me want to go to Wanganui and take the elevator!
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