As part of our Celebrating Wanganui series, Whanganui Regional Museum director Eric Dorfman reflects on the charms of his new home and its surrounds
As a newcomer, Whanganui is a place that grows on you gradually, opening up its nooks and crannies, as you uncover a diversity of experiences surprising for a town of 45,000.
First, there are the obvious things to love about it. For me, as I guess for many, the river is foremost of these. I was lucky enough to experience it by kayak one rainy Easter weekend almost 10 years ago, imagining moa walking along its tangled primordial banks and straining to see eels in the dark beckoning waters. A favourite photo is still a grainy shot of our damp and muddy party enjoying a well-deserved break on the Bridge to Nowhere.
I like the fact that Whanganui has supremely beautiful places within easy reach, where it's possible to be completely alone. A blustery morning walking up the beach at Castlecliff offers all the seclusion you could need for pondering life. A little drive offers up Whanganui National Park, with its opportunities for bushwalking.
Not that it's always about solitude. Since arriving here as a resident, my position as director of Whanganui Regional Museum has put me at the heart of a vibrant arts community, a collection of highly talented and productive people who, unsurprisingly, were not in evidence in my first foray to the area. Fortunately, the hugely popular Artists' Open Studios has taken care of that introduction, and the creative outpouring offers more to do in any week than it would be possible to pack in. There's also the bustling Saturday market, filled with a hubbub of friendly chatter, great food and craft, and somebody to say hello to wherever you look.
