WANGANUI ATTRACTIONS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 895, 12 February 1930, Page 7

WANGANUI ATTRACTIONS

ARE THEY ON THE WANE?

TOURISTS BEING DIVERTED From Our Oicn Correspondent TAUMARUNUI, Tuesday. Is there a clanger that the famous Wanganui River will in the not distant future become almost ignored as a tourist route? Already the upper reach from Taumarunui to the Houseboat has been cut out of, the boat service, and it is reported from Wanganui that in the course of the next few weeks three large parties of American tourists will be conducted over only the middle section, that is from the Houseboat to Pipiriki. This will cut the town of Wanganui off from this lucrative traffic. At present, tourists can reach the Houseboat by the choice of two routes, by motor from Taumarunui, or by motor from Raurimu. On both routes the scenery is good, and there is no reason why visitors should not be conveyed thus. From the Houseboat to Pipiriki constitutes the great charm of the New Zealand Rhine's wonderful native scenery, while from Pipiriki to Wanganui, the waterway, though not so majestic, offers a delightful trip. The seems to be that in future the “Wanganui River,” so far as oversea tourist traffic is concerned, will lie between the Houseboat and Pipiriki. This does not meet with the views of the authorities either at. Wanganui or Taumarunui, to both of which places the tourist traffic is of great importance. The main reasons for the change in the policy of the oversea tourist age.ncies, so far as the lower portion of the river is concerned, seem to exist in the circulation in various ways of remarks unfavourable to the final stage of the river journey. Further proof that the river as a whole is being overlooked by many is given in the figures showing the number of tourists travelling through the Wairakei to National Park, and thence to Wellington direct.

It is considered by those who should be competent to speak, that some means must be devised for again popularising the Wanganui River as a tourist route, as it still displays some of the grandest scenery in the Dominion, if not in the world.