Cycle tours make use of Whanganui Tours & Mail Run for transporting luggage. Riders are pictured at Koriniti Marae.
Whanganui’s River Rd mail run has been operated by Tracy Marshall for the last three years, in conjunction with Whanganui Tours, a tourist operation focusing on assisting cyclists riding the Mountain to Sea cycle trail - Ngā Ara Tūhono and tourists wanting to join the mail run.
Tracy starts at 6am in the morning, sorting out the mail and parcels at NZ Post, leaving before 7.30am. Her deliveries start at Parikino and end at Pipiriki before 11am. There are 80 stops, most days, on the way.
The Whanganui Midweek gets delivered on Wednesdays, “everyone up the River Rd loves it, and they get a free Whanganui Chronicle on a Thursday,” says Tracy.
“I deliver medications, letters, parcels, milk or something people have forgotten in the city. Tourists join me on the mail run because it’s scenic, it’s really beautiful up there.
“So I pick up the tourists from their accommodation and for my first stop, when I deliver the mail, I get some of them to help me. They enjoy doing it and get to see some unusual letterboxes.
“One of my uncles has an old microwave for a letterbox - they love to see that - then there’s one made from an old canoe.
“I’ve met some wonderful people, especially when they come on the tour with me or cycle on the Mountain to Sea Cycle Trail - Ngā Ara Tūhono.
“I help cyclists by moving luggage for cycle tours, I get to see them every day cycling the Mountain to Sea Cycle Trail. This is quite a big operation in the summer, as well as the mail run,” she says.
She talks about the awa (river). “I take tourists to Koriniti Marae to have a walk around and take some photos. I’m from Koriniti, I’m related to all the whānau there.”
Koriniti marae (also known as Otukopiri) is located roughly 40km north of Whanganui, on the banks of the Whanganui River. Its principal hapū is Ngati Pamoana of the iwi Te Ati Haunui-a-Paparangi.
The wharenui is named Hikurangi Wharerata, Poutama, and Te Waiherehere, and the whare kai is Pamoana. The marae connects ancestrally to the waka Aotea, the maunga Ruapehu and the awa Whanganui.
“It’s then on to the Matahiwi Café and Gallery where a drawcard is memorabilia from Vincent Ward’s movie River Queen, which was filmed on the Whanganui River in 2005. The gallery has the “River Queen” boat used in the movie on display.
“Moving on to Morikau Station, where the views are to die for, tourists can look back towards Whanganui, because it’s quite high up. It also has a commanding view looking over to Stratford and the Waitotara Valley.
“Next stop is Jerusalem, Hiruharama in Maori, a tiny settlement 66km up the Whanganui River Rd. It was originally called Patiarero and was one of the biggest settlements on the Whanganui River in the 1840s, with several hundred Ngati Hau inhabitants of the iwi Te Ati Haunui a Paparangi.
“We stop at the convent and church - poet James K Baxter is buried nearby on private property. The tourists get to have a look around the convent and church, which they love, it’s absolutely beautiful.
“I take morning tea with me, fresh scones, or a fruit loaf from Savages Bakery. This is accompanied by a flask to give coffee for our morning break. Then we head on up to Pipiriki, the last stop,” Tracy says.
Pipiriki is a settlement in New Zealand, on the east bank of the Whanganui River, due west of the town of Raetihi and 79km upriver from Whanganui; it was originally on the opposite bank. It is the home of Ngati Kura, a hapū of the Ngati Ruanui iwi. It is also the location of the Paraweka Marae of the hapū Ngati Kurawhatia of the iwi Te Ati Haunui-a-Paparangi.
In the 1840s Pipiriki was a large stockaded settlement, the second largest on the Whanganui River, consisting of eight pā with a total population of 250–300. Wheat was a major crop from 1848 onward, and the water-powered Kaukore flour mill was built in 1854. In 1865 three redoubts across the river were besieged for several weeks by Pai Marire warriors.
Pipiriki was an important part of the riverboat trade in the 1890s–1920s, marking a major stop for paddle steamers making the 11-hour journey from Whanganui.
Returningto Whanganui, Tracy goes to the Gonville Post & More shop in the afternoon, where she is co-owner alongside Linda Andracic - serving customers who are paying bills, accessing Waka Kotahi NZTA services and posting parcels. “It keeps me busy,” she says.