Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

River venture thrives as more visitors find friendly stopover

By Laurel Stowell
Whanganui Chronicle·
10 Jan, 2013 05:46 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

After a couple of quiet years a co-operative venture for Whanganui River people, a cafe and craft shop, is starting to pay off, prime organiser Marlene Ranginui says.

Matahiwi Gallery opened in 2009 and is starting to reap the benefit of increased visitors on the Whanganui River Rd.

It can seat 20 people, inside and outside, and is the only cafe between Pipiriki and Upokongaro.

In October last year the Mauriora Mo Tamaupoko Rohe Trust splashed out and bought a shiny new espresso coffee machine, which Mrs Ranginui expects will pay for itself.

The cafe is open from 9 to 3 and serves morning and afternoon teas and cold drinks.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It's mainly staffed by volunteers, who are paid where possible. Mrs Ranginui can staff it at weekends, when she is not working for Te Oranganui Iwi Health Authority.

She's the Whanau Ora practitioner for people from Parikino to Jerusalem.

She said the former school building that houses the gallery has a long history.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It was moved to Matahiwi from Parinui, further up river, in the 1940s. It closed as Matahiwi School in the early 1980s, and for the rest of that decade was one of the Whanganui River's first kohanga reo.

The kohanga moved to Ranana around 1990, because there were not enough children at Matahiwi. The site belongs to Matahiwi Marae, and another building on it was used as a correspondence unit for teenagers. That closed in 1993, and its building is now a health clinic.

Through the 1990s the former school building sometimes housed Mrs Ranginui's fitness classes, and was sometimes empty. It needed a lot of upgrading when the trust decided to turn it into first a craft shop and then a cafe in 2009.

A grant from the Te Atihau Trust paid for some renovations, and locals pitched in to help.

The boat that featured in Vincent Ward's River Queen film is sitting outside, courtesy of Koriniti business The Flying Fox, with a roof over it to preserve it.

The gallery sells weaving, carving, paintings, pottery and cards made by local people.

Some of the paintings are by Colin Gibbs, a former artist-in-residence at Ranana's school. There are also free range eggs and fruit for sale, in season, and staff can answer questions about Matahiwi and the river.

"People mostly just ask about the school and marae," Shantel Ranginui said.

The cafe's 20 seats have occasionally all been full, and Mrs Ranginui expects that to happen more often.

"It's picking up this year, and we expected that."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

'No significant changes': All calm after quake swarm at Ruapehu

Whanganui Chronicle

'Surprising' lack of property value growth in Whanganui region

Premium
OpinionKevin Page

Kevin Page: Facing fears, finding humour and relief in medical journey


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

'No significant changes': All calm after quake swarm at Ruapehu
Whanganui Chronicle

'No significant changes': All calm after quake swarm at Ruapehu

The temperature of Te Wai ā-moe remains stable at about 12°C.

14 Jul 11:23 PM
'Surprising' lack of property value growth in Whanganui region
Whanganui Chronicle

'Surprising' lack of property value growth in Whanganui region

14 Jul 06:00 PM
Premium
Premium
 Kevin Page: Facing fears, finding humour and relief in medical journey
Kevin Page
OpinionKevin Page

Kevin Page: Facing fears, finding humour and relief in medical journey

14 Jul 05:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP