"SUCH FUN"

Water Rat said to the Mole: “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing–absolutely nothing–half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

Well, Whangarei can take a leaf out of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind In The Willows with its second annual maritime festival.

There was a lot of 'messing about in boats' at the Basin in Whangārei with about 20,000 people watching and joining in -  a big increase from the first event last year and a great indication for the future.

The festival was started in 2023 by overseas yachties who come to Whangārei’s Town Basin each year between October and May to escape the tropical hurricane season. Whangārei is liked by the internationals and they organised the festival as a way of saying thanks.

The event stretched about a kilometre along the Hātea River from the Town Basin. Steamboats added to the festival mix for the first time proved hugely popular with many taking rides, a handful at a time, on the tiny boats.

Among these was one of the world’s oldest operating steamboats of its type, the 8m SS Puke. Yes, 'Puke' which is New Zealand’s oldest operating steam-powered tug, built near Dargaville in the 1870s to transport kauri to the settlement’s mill. It was brought to the festival in a first-time event participation by the NZ Maritime Museum in Auckland.