Reading the local press and bulletins, there seemed to be a host of community activities and arts and social interest groups, often driven by selfless volunteers. Like a lot of people, I'd heard the "zombie town" talk, but couldn't seem to relate it to what I was seeing.
I think it's a quality of life issue that the economic mandarins seem incapable of factoring into their fiscal equations.
Being in time-for-a-change mode, when a house that ticked all the boxes came up at the right price, I jumped in, and next thing I was Wanganui-ho.
Very soon, I started to feel I was in a Back To The Future scenario, exemplified by the scene in the movie where the protagonist pulls in to refuel at a gas station a la 1950s and out spring three attendants in pressed uniforms and caps, one to fill the tank, another to clean the windscreen, another - from memory - buffing the paintwork while the tank filled.
A bit of a caricature, but still evocative of an earlier, more benign period of New Zealand history predicated on giving satisfaction to fellow community members. And your financial reward was enough to get into a reasonable house and section without having to mortgage your soul to the devil.
Which gets back to the housing in Wanganui. Key word: affordable. It's even official - according to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, in 2014 Wanganui was the most affordable place in the country to buy a house.
The place I have here with all its amenities, close proximity to downtown etc, cost approximately half, if not a third, of an average house buried in one of Auckland's many soulless suburbs with their traffic problems - and the Wellingtons, Hamiltons and Taurangas aren't far behind.
It's not just me. A friend was visiting recently and he too said the place reminded him of a style and pace of life that he'd thought was a thing of the past.
"I couldn't believe it," he said. "I was having a coffee downtown at an outside table and people around me seemed to quietly go about their business in a nice, relaxed manner. No hassle or niggliness."
My friend is a horse-racing nut so, of course, we had to go to the January meet at Wanganui racecourse. He was instantly confirmed in his belief that Wanganui had its priorities right by siting the course two minutes from downtown.
There were no queues. We drove in five minutes before the first race and still got to park under a shady tree for free.
My friend had earlier visited the course to swot up on the local form and a casual conversation with an official had led to (free) members' stand tickets and (free) form books. The weather was sublime, the punters cheery and friendly, the drinks cool and not too expensive, the horses magnificent. "Perfick," as Pop Larkin would have said.
Frank Greenall has a masters degree and managed Far North Adult Literacy before moving to Wanganui.
