Rob Rattenbury: A sleepy hamlet and a beautiful lake

When he was young, Rob Rattenbury's parents convinced him Rotokawau/Virginia Lake was bottomless. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui is one of those places which is just naturally beautiful to look at. When I think of our town, I think of all the different vistas we have here.

As a small child, I would often travel through Whanganui to Taranaki from Wellington to see family in our old underpowered British car, driven by Dad with Mum navigating and a horde of kids - four - in the back seat. All with no seatbelts, of course, and Mum and Dad having a fag or two on the way. Baby on Mum’s lap.

My memories of Whanganui from those days are fleeting and pretty much confined to passing through. We would drive along the old main road into Pūtiki and across the old town bridge. I would sit and wonder at the sight of all the boats in the river and steam trains puffing importantly up and down the railway yards. In those days, Whanganui had a town railway station.

We would drive right along Victoria Avenue, with Mum remarking again, every time without fail, that if Whanganui people can’t park outside the shop they want to go to, they just go home. That stuck in my memory. Actually, I’ve done that.

The old car would struggle in third gear up St Johns Hill past the beautiful Virginia Lake, which both my parents convinced us was bottomless. Being a learned and curious little bloke, I assumed the other end of the lake was in Madrid in Spain or some such place.

In my mind’s eye, I can still see the view looking from St Johns Hill as we climbed out of the valley, across to the right; all the little old houses. Of course, I never knew at that age Whanganui was one of the oldest places of colonial settlement in New Zealand.

Upon moving here some 20 or more years later, I was continually struck by the peace and quiet of the place, the old homes, the worker cottages on what was referred to by many as Poverty Flat. The age of the place. I came from a place of recent state housing, brash 1950s and 1960s architecture. Petone was about the only old place in my neighbourhood in those days.

One of my favourite vistas in Whanganui back then, and now, is seeing all the beautiful old homes on the face of Durie Hill in the morning sunlight when walking, running or cycling down Somme Parade past the old site of the Riverside - a quaintness which harks back to gentler, slower times when Whanganui enjoyed a more genteel way of life.

Looking across the river towards Shakespeare Cliff and seeing traffic slowly meander along Anzac Parade below the cliff. Again, the old homes on the top of the hill and on the face of Bastia Hill. Slightly smaller, more modest homes, but still many from another age.

Virginia Lake is still a lovely place to visit, and remember that old tale of it being bottomless. Having swum in it over the years, I would still think of my parents’ small white lie to amuse tired children.

The world-famous Kowhai Park dominates the Whanganui East approaches, another very pretty vista, usually full of families enjoying themselves. Whoever thought that idea up was a legend. It is still THE favourite playground for many adults and children. My wife visited it as a child; our own children spent hours there, as now our grandchildren do.

Driving out to Castlecliff, especially on a wild day, and enjoying the vista of the coast all the way up towards South Taranaki, the wind and the heavy seas. A beguiling powerful place to visit. A place not to be underestimated, though. Walking between Mowhanau and Whanganui along the beach, stepping back into history. The first main road to Taranaki in the very early settler days.

The surrounding hinterland is also delightful to visit. That small village of Ūpokongaro, a short way from the awa out of town. A sleepy hamlet with its own interesting history.

Everywhere one looks in Whanganui, one sees history. It is everywhere. Much has sadly gone due to progress - the old city mansions and estates subdivided for housing in the early to mid-20th century, the old commercial buildings that did not survive into the 21st century.

Luckily, we are still spoiled with the Victorian layout and atmosphere of our Old Town and parts of Victoria Avenue.

I like standing outside the old Rutland Hotel on the corner and looking up and down the Avenue, and also Ridgway Street, the commercial centre of old Whanganui. In my mind’s eye, I still see trams, Hansom cabs, people dressed far more formally than I ever would. Many of the same buildings still in situ and still occupied.

Whanganui is a grand place.