On some years there have been special events during the Tira, such as the unveiling of Hohepa Te Umuroa's headstone at Jerusalem or the opening of the new Te Wainui a Rua school at Ranana.
On one year in the 1990s the Maori Queen, the late Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu joined the Tira. Her group met the Whanganui people at night, near Parikino.
Her granddaughter was born during that time, and Whanganui kuia Julie Ranginui was asked to name the baby. The baby was named Ngawaihonoitepo (ki Parikino) Paki, in memory of that event.
"She's our baby and very special to us," Ms Osborne said.
No specific events are planned this year, but Ms Osborne said the journey will be special anyway.
"Every year is special. It has its own uniqueness about it."
Ensuring the safety and wellbeing of a group of up to 170 paddlers on a two-week river journey is a big responsibility. Ms Osborne has been supported by her parents, Charlie and Hape Osborne, and friend Wiremu Nicholson.
When there are important decisions to be made, she'll consult others. She's often worked with her ex-husband, Gerrard Albert, and with Mike and the late Tina Poa.
It's a voluntary role, and she begins her planning in February or March each year, soon after the January journey is finished.
She'll keep in touch with Whanganui's twice-monthly council of elders, the Kaumatua Kaunihera, the Tupoho Working Party and Whanganui District Council to make sure the event doesn't clash with others on the river.
She chooses which marae will host the paddlers, consulting them and alternating marae. Most years she's on the trip herself, and rings all the marae from Taumarunui, and again from Pipiriki.
She'll divide the paddlers into groups, each with a captain and a young person alongside learning from them. The groups have duties, to ensure they are "good manuhiri (visitors)" at marae where they stay.
Each group has to have a mix of young and old. It has people capable of speaking on a marae, teaching waiata, telling history and keeping people safe.
The journey is important for Whanganui iwi. It brings people together and cements who they are and where they are from.
"One of the reasons why I continue to do it is you see some of our young rangatahi that come onto the river and you see the growth and development in their whole being."
Some rangatahi (young people) "have a hardness about them" initially.
"By day four or five they're saying "Aunty, can I carry your bag?" or "Nanny, can I help you with that?"."
During the journey they learn the stories of places on the river, and the waiata (songs) that pertain to the river and land. They learn their waiata while paddling on their awa (river). People who have passed away since the previous journey are remembered and acknowledged.
The journey binds the participants as a people to their river and their lands.
"The unseen umbilical cord to our environment and our awa is real. It's being able to walk it and feel it for our people, to know we have that connectivity with our waterways and lands and our responsibility to care for the wellbeing of our river and our people," Ms Osborne said.
Knowledge passes from old to young "so that generations to come will hold fast to the very essence of who we are as a people".
Those at marae who host and manaaki (look after) the travellers are just as important as those on the water. Kaiwhaiki Marae has hosted paddlers on every one of the last 27 years.
"Even thinking about it warms my heart - the ones that mow the lawns and prepare the wharepuni and sit on our paepae. The way we are fed on the marae is, and always has been, second to none."
Ms Osborne thanks the Conservation Department, and especially Pete Rihia in Taumarunui and Jasmine Hessell and Scotty Moore in Whanganui, for its help in the middle reaches.
"It's part of our relationship agreement with them. It's been amazing."
She's is looking to step down from her role as co-ordinator in 2018. She said the next person who takes it on will need at least 10 years' experience. Willy Hutch and Ashley Patea are two possibilities.
