Spa pool tub washes up on Whanganui's Castlecliff Beach

The tub is placed above high tide mark, as diggers continue to work on North Mole. Photo / Bevan Conley

In all her years of beachcombing, Castlecliff resident Lynne Douglas has seen many strange objects come ashore - but never a spa pool.

It's what she saw bobbing on the waves off Morgan St beach on Tuesday. At first, it looked like a large yellow log with something on top, Douglas said.

The tub of a spa pool floats into shore at Morgan St Beach. Photo / Lynne Douglas

When it reached the shore, Douglas could see the object was the tub of a spa pool. It washed back out and she became worried it would be a danger to boats and surfers because it wasn't clearly visible when partially submerged.

She asked the Cashmore Contracting team working to repair North Mole for their help, and a digger operator quickly picked the tub up and moved it to higher ground.

A contractor uses a digger to pick up the tub. Photo / Lynne Douglas

At the beach and watching the contractors in action was Kahurangi Simon, a member of the Whanganui hapū collective Te Mata Pūau that is advising the partners in Te Pūwaha, the project to revitalise Whanganui's port.

The spa tub had floated down the Whanganui River, Simon said, before drifting north onto the beach at Morgan St.

He said lots of people have been coming to the beach to watch the repair work at the mole.

He would not say more because Te Pūwaha's media policy restricts statements to only those approved by all the partners.

Te Mata Pūau plays an integral part in the success of the project, a previous statement from the project has said. It provides guidance and approval and ensures Te Awa Tupua and Tupua te Kawa values are upheld - the values agreed in Whanganui River settlement legislation in 2017.