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.
11 comments:
Okay.
Water Rat spoke the truth!
On that subject, if you wanted to keep your kayaks I can store them in my back yard with my own!
....same with your trailer!
Thanks Robert. I'm giving the kayaks and trailer to my sister who has a holiday home up here. I've also offered her the snooker table but they may not have the space for it.
Who gets the severely prooned orange tree?
Sorry, 'pruned'.
RBB
The next owner will get a bumper crop of oranges and he will tell everyone what green fingers Peter has.
He only has green fingers because he spills paint on them.
Maybe the new buyer will be American and say he has a green thumb. We won't start on his pinky finger...
...or getting caught red handed.
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