Today's adventure brought to you by the PS (Paddle Steamer) Waimarie, a restored paddlewheel boat which is run, yes, by a steam engine, fed by coal.
This boat is docked on the river in Wanganui (or Whanganui in Maori spelling) and during winter (which it sort of is now) only runs on weekends. Since I didn't get a chance to do the mail run upriver on Friday I thought this would be a great trip. And it was!
Conveniently there was a Saturday market taking place next door to the Waimarie's dock so I took in some local colour and picked up some provisions for lunch. Some good buskers too!
We set sail at 1pm with a big ole toot of the horn 10 minutes before to call us on board.
They've done a magnificent restoration of this 100+ year old boat, New Zealands only remaining steam-run paddlewheeler. At some point mid-20th c. it sunk at its berth and stayed under the mud for 40-odd years. This actually helped preserve the engine but imagine the mess when they hauled it out of the water in the early 90''s.
The head engineer was there and I got to hang out in the engine room for awhile. Cool! (actually it was pretty warm, but at least very well ventilated) They go through 1/2 tonne or so of coal, one shovel full at a time, during the 3 hour cruise. I asked a bunch of questions, some dumb, I'm sure, but they humoured me. In any case it was a great way to geek out and learn about history of the boat, steam engines, steam engine certification (there's only about 5 guys in NZ with the steam engine ticket to run such a boat) etc.
The captain was also a friendly dude and seemed like he might let someone take the wheel for a minute or two, although I didn't push it. One of the crew and I had a great chat down at the bow, he even fired up the winch thingie for me and explained some of the mechanics. Over my head, but he was a good teacher and again, I asked lots of questions. He was a bright guy in general and I learned a lot from him about the natural, cultural, social history of the area.
For instance, although there's still a lot of sheep in NZ, that's no longer the lynchpin of the economy. Dairy farming (of the factory variety) has taken over, and it's all about drying milk in powder and selling it to China. Wow. I bet the dairy farms I worked on in the 80's don't exits anymore, at least not as independent ventures.
After a pleasant hour cruising upriver, we docked at Upokongaro for an hour. Some Maori history about the head of an Important Maori Woman stashed there somewhere to preserve her "mana" (dignity), an old little church and a pub, that's about it. Still, killed an hour there.
Then we turned around and went back home. I had tea and scones down below, chatted with more friendly locals, and we were back by 4 pm.
I really loved the tranquility and the sense of history, and especially the calming "chugga chugga" sound of the steam engine. At first I thought it was fake, because it sounded just like those old steam engine trains you see in movies. (I've never been on that steam train in Squamish). Also kinda neat to have the paddles on the side, instead of the stern as they are usually on North American paddlewheelers.
Good times. And "good value for money" as Kiwis like to say. $45NZD for 3 hrs, with a cuppa tea and scones thrown in. Compared to $55NZD for 30min. on a boat to Kapiti Island.
info at http://www.riverboats.co.nz/index.html
This boat is docked on the river in Wanganui (or Whanganui in Maori spelling) and during winter (which it sort of is now) only runs on weekends. Since I didn't get a chance to do the mail run upriver on Friday I thought this would be a great trip. And it was!
Conveniently there was a Saturday market taking place next door to the Waimarie's dock so I took in some local colour and picked up some provisions for lunch. Some good buskers too!
We set sail at 1pm with a big ole toot of the horn 10 minutes before to call us on board.
They've done a magnificent restoration of this 100+ year old boat, New Zealands only remaining steam-run paddlewheeler. At some point mid-20th c. it sunk at its berth and stayed under the mud for 40-odd years. This actually helped preserve the engine but imagine the mess when they hauled it out of the water in the early 90''s.
The head engineer was there and I got to hang out in the engine room for awhile. Cool! (actually it was pretty warm, but at least very well ventilated) They go through 1/2 tonne or so of coal, one shovel full at a time, during the 3 hour cruise. I asked a bunch of questions, some dumb, I'm sure, but they humoured me. In any case it was a great way to geek out and learn about history of the boat, steam engines, steam engine certification (there's only about 5 guys in NZ with the steam engine ticket to run such a boat) etc.
The captain was also a friendly dude and seemed like he might let someone take the wheel for a minute or two, although I didn't push it. One of the crew and I had a great chat down at the bow, he even fired up the winch thingie for me and explained some of the mechanics. Over my head, but he was a good teacher and again, I asked lots of questions. He was a bright guy in general and I learned a lot from him about the natural, cultural, social history of the area.
For instance, although there's still a lot of sheep in NZ, that's no longer the lynchpin of the economy. Dairy farming (of the factory variety) has taken over, and it's all about drying milk in powder and selling it to China. Wow. I bet the dairy farms I worked on in the 80's don't exits anymore, at least not as independent ventures.
After a pleasant hour cruising upriver, we docked at Upokongaro for an hour. Some Maori history about the head of an Important Maori Woman stashed there somewhere to preserve her "mana" (dignity), an old little church and a pub, that's about it. Still, killed an hour there.
Then we turned around and went back home. I had tea and scones down below, chatted with more friendly locals, and we were back by 4 pm.
I really loved the tranquility and the sense of history, and especially the calming "chugga chugga" sound of the steam engine. At first I thought it was fake, because it sounded just like those old steam engine trains you see in movies. (I've never been on that steam train in Squamish). Also kinda neat to have the paddles on the side, instead of the stern as they are usually on North American paddlewheelers.
Good times. And "good value for money" as Kiwis like to say. $45NZD for 3 hrs, with a cuppa tea and scones thrown in. Compared to $55NZD for 30min. on a boat to Kapiti Island.
info at http://www.riverboats.co.nz/index.html
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