People were out fishing, swimming, boating and picnicking all over the Whanganui outdoors on a sunny New Year's Day.
![James Heta takes daughter Ebony, 13, to Kowhai Park.](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/W4UF77DDTXMRM63DLGSRI2P7HY.jpg?auth=f8637342b2ae4d2150cff662e330b49f52ed98d017cce114ebecb1edb0fc21b5&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
At Kowhai Park they were trying out swings, slides and the Tot Town Railway. James Heta, brought up in Whanganui but now living in Oamaru, brought his 13-year-old daughter, Ebony, to show her where he used to play.
![Kyaana Potaka, 6, and 8-year-old Jade Taurua splash in a paddling pool at Bason Botanic Gardens.](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/DLDKXQ5PHT4U7ATORHMZ6Z6PT4.jpg?auth=1dda67d00d854d909d1c200a84071866217d16e30d91aac59c6f765fe17bfdbb&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
In Bason Botanic Gardens people were everywhere, eating, drinking, walking and talking. The Potaka family of 15 members had brought along a gazebo for shade, chairs and tables, bicycles, a cricket set, their own music and a paddling pool.