Yesterday we arrived in Wanganui which is a city on the west coast between Wellington and new Plymouth and we were pleasantly surprised as to how attractive the city centre is although looking around it is certainly a poorer place than the other places that we have been to so far.
Today, Tuesday, we started off by going over the river to the "left bank" where there is a elevator which is used to take the townsfolk up and/or down the hill. There are two options to get to the top - use the elevator or use the steps. To go up using the elevator there is a 213 metre tunnel leading from the street to the base of the elevator and next to this are the steps. Well believe it or not we missed the entrance to the tunnel and climbed the steps (actually we did it on purpose because we wanted the exercise!!). Once at the top we found the elevator which was built in 1916 and is still in working order
Close by the elevator is the Memorial Tower which has 176 steps to the top but once up there the views of Wanganui are spectacular. Not to be outdone having climbed up to the top of the hill and then up to the top of the Memorial Tower we took the elevator back down.
After this exploit we then set off on the Wanganui Heritage Walk which took about two hours. In its day Wanganui has been a very prosperous city as can be seen from the buildings. The walk then took us to Cooks Gardens in which there are several interesting features. One is the Bell Tower which was at one time used by the fire briade. Each night a fireman would climb up the tower and at the first sign of fire would ring the bell. The number of strokes of the bell would indicate where the fire was. Also in Cooks Gardens is the athletics track where in 1964 Peter Snell ran his record breaking mile.
Must go now as we have an early start tomorrow when we go to "The Bridge to Nowhere" - watch this space....