Wanganui River Road

Even though I’ve mentioned our day trip and a couple of stops on our South Island road trip, I really should first talk about our mini road trip around the North Island. We left from Wellington, my sistet’s home of the last 10 months or so. She, Rob, and I headed to Wanganui, where we ended up driving down Wanganui River Road – a lovely scenic (yet quiet) sort of highway that took us to our campsite which looked out into the hills and mountains, as well as over the river. Many visitors to this area end up hiring boats to tour the Wanganui River area by water – a great option if you can afford it! Myself being a relatively tight-budgeted traveler, I opted to stick to land. Josephine (the owner of the property where we camped) welcomed us with open arms even though we arrive later that planned, and we were able to use the kitchen and shower facilities – for $36. Compared to DOC sites we encountered later on in our travels, this is pretty steep, but the area was lovely, and we were limited on accommodation options.

The next day we headed into the More urban part of Wanganui, encountering an awesome park! It had all sorts of concrete forms for kids ( and young-at-heart adults) to play on! We ate dinner on a mushroom, then hung out on some snakes before exploring Old Mother Shoe’s crib. Did I mention they also have a flying fox (zip line)? Go there. It’s free.

Up the road a bit is another source of giggles called Mosquito point. This spot has a huge cable swing that pendulums several meters over the water; both aterrifying and exilhirating experience.

If you’re not feeling the childlike glee, just head over to the glass blowing Studio located in town. You can watch the artists for free, as well as peruse their recent works ( and buy them, if you feel extra inspired).