KNOWLEDGE: Taking tours around the central city area are (from left standing) Rosemary Hovey, Robin Paul, Peter Johnston, Leigh Grant, Bob Griffiths, Murray Whitlock. Seated, Norm Boothby. Inset: Graham Sutcliffe.
Publication WAC
Wanganui is an old city, by New Zealand standards, and we are fortunate in having retained evidence of much of our history.
Wanganui City Walking Tours were a Wanganui Events Trust initiative when Leigh Grant was at the helm, and started in December 2012.
Bob Griffiths currently heads the group of volunteers,
taking tourists and locals on a leisurely stroll around places of interest, recounting historical anecdotes and telling tales of Wanganui.
"There are seven of us," says Bob, "Graham Sutcliffe, Robin Paul, Norm Boothby, Peter Johnson, Murray Whitlock and Rosemary Hovey."
Armed with information supplied by Wendy Pettigrew and Kyle Dalton, the tour leaders hold their charges in thrall as they tell of hangings in the Rutland Stockade and yarns of derring do from the settlement's early days.
"You'll get a different talk from each tour leader," says Bob. "We look at it as an introduction to Wanganui; our job is to bring to people's attention things that happened in the past and things they might want to look at.
"Before the tour we tell them roughly where we're going and find out what they're interested in."
When Bob once told some German tourists that the Whanganui was once called the Rhine of New Zealand ... "They laughed and said, we just haven't got a Whanganui of Germany. They got all my jokes," he says.
For a walking tour, book at the i-Site. Tours leave from the i-Site on Saturday and Sunday at 10am and 2pm, or otherwise by appointment. Tours take from 90 minutes to 2 hours and people of all abilities are welcome.
