Visit is a reminder how good we have it

The River Traders market.

A family member recently emailed the following after a weekend here:

"Thanks for a lovely weekend, great company, great food, great excursions. Wanganui. Top town."

She could have also mentioned superb weather, but she was spot on about the weekend - we had had a brilliant time.

Saturday was jam-packed. First stop, the market and a sit beside the Whanganui River with coffee. One thing I've noticed at the market - people are always cheerful.

Then it was off to the Whanganui Arts Review, at the Sarjeant Gallery, which was in its last days.

The 121 artists represented were a varied lot and we bought a couple of pieces. We went halves in one of the more expensive buys, year and year about. That's okay - they speed by these days.

We then had a late picnic out at the Bason Botanic Gardens with the ducks, daffodils and fantails. The gardens may be at their best right now but I've been there during bone-chilling winds and they were almost as impressive - though more character-building.

Saturday night was a family dinner and the rugby.

Sunday was a rest day.

Perhaps the only downside of the weekend was that flight times and fares made it easier and cheaper to use Palmerston North airport to get there from Auckland.

The peril of that policy has been shown by the recent announcement on flights to Wellington. If you don't use it, you'll lose it, so perhaps more planning needs to be done next time.

That point aside, the image of Wanganui as a destination has increased a gazillion-fold in my family member's eyes. And it wasn't difficult - nothing complicated, nothing needed booking and, apart from the art, the expenditure was minimal.

And it could be any weekend - say a Heartland rugby fixture at Cooks Gardens, the balloon festival in Springvale, a turn around Kowhai Park in the sunshine or the Festival of Glass.