Visiting Petre

We have had a lovely 24hours in a town that goes by many names and spellings. Apparently in 1840 the first European settlement on the Whanganui River (river has always had an h) was called Petre after one of the Directors of the NZ Settlement Co but this name was not popular so locals started using the name local Maori used Wanganui. I guess early NZ settlers were not generally that literate in English let alone Maori so can be forgiven for not knowing how to spell. Despite the much publicized name battles over the past few years it is difficult to look around the town and know that the battle to have the h added was won at the High Court - hard to find a single business that uses Whanganui.The town itself is very pretty - if I tell you we had to buy another card for Tony's camera you will know that in time multiple photos from the trip will be forthcoming. I still haven't worked out how to add photos to this blog from I-Pad so mine will come in different times.

We both really enjoyed the trip up the river in paddle steamer - took 2 hours and went about 10km up river. As the river goes for 144km you will see we barely touched surface. There is a diesel powered paddleboat that does a several day trip that might have to be added to the bucket list!

Went to Sargent gallery in town after lunch and it too was impressive included an amazing display of Lynley Dodd's work. Lynley Dodd in case you need reminding wrote and illustrated the Hairy McLairy books. She was born in Rotorua and spent some of her childhood in Wanganui so is considered a local celebrity. Was a great exhibition and included snippets like Tony Blair was recorded reading one of the Hairy McLairy books for the BBC during his time as Britain's PM. We also found a book we didn't know but has amazing illustrations "Where's The Tiger?" if you see it we recommend it.

Been lovely break.