The Waimarie paddle steamer can stop at Ūpokongaro this summer thanks to quick thinking from Whanganui resident Willy Pelzers.
The Waimarie paddle steamer can stop at Ūpokongaro this summer thanks to quick thinking from Whanganui resident Willy Pelzers.
Kiwi ingenuity has saved the Waimarie paddle steamer’s summer plans after its gangway at Ūpokongaro was vandalised.
Waimarie manager Jen Britton said one of the gangway’s handrails was ripped off but a member of the public, Willy Pelzers, replaced it with old farm gates – “a very safe but temporary measure”.
Last year, staff had to fish the gangway out of the Whanganui River as passengers waited on board, Britton said.
“Someone was throwing it in there but we managed to bolt the base down to the point where you can’t flip it over.
“Obviously, because they couldn’t throw it in the water, they decided to rip the handrail off.
“We’ve also had someone drill the lock out and fill it with something like No More Nails.” Britton said the gangway was too heavy to store on the vessel.
Pelzers’ efforts meant weeks of the vessel’s Ūpokongaro Stop Over trip did not have to be cancelled, she said.
“As a business, we had to start diversifying or we would just go stale, which was what was happening.
“We had to utilise what was around us, and visitors are increasingly wanting a destination-based trip.
“It also provides Ūpokongaro with more, as well. People get up there and learn about the cool church [St Mary’s] and go to Papaiti Gin and the [Behind the Door on 4] cafe.”
There were cruiser bikes aboard so passengers could “toodle on back down” to Whanganui via the nearby cycle bridge, Britton said. If there had been a delay in operations, Waimarie staff would also miss out, she said.
The Waimarie is offering trips to Ūpokongaro twice each week in January.
“Their employment hours are based on our sailing, so if we’re doing less, they’re getting less.
“[Whanganui District] Council was fixing the wharf, so that was December gone, and then this happened.
It spent 40 years at the bottom of the Whanganui River before being salvaged in 1993. The Waimarie will offer the Ūpokongaro Stop Over on Fridays and Sundays throughout January. Britton said if the trip proved popular, it could match Real New Zealand’s TSS (Twin-Screw Steamer) Earnslaw.
The Earnslaw transports passengers across Lake Whakatipu to Walter’s Peak. She said she was “absolutely rapt” that the gangway had been repaired so quickly.
“The Waimarie is basically a symbol of the power of the community and, in a moment of need, a community member has stood up and said, ‘I’ll do it’, she said.
“The problem we have now is putting it back there and hoping like hell they don’t do it again.”
Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present, his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.
