Walk 73, 15th November 2021
Virginia Lake is Wanganui’s jewel, a really pretty lake on St John’s Hill. You’ll pass it if you’re heading west-northwest to Taranaki. It only takes about 45 minutes to walk around.
There’s also a bird aviary and the Winter Gardens, an art deco hot house. My favourite thing is the Higginbottom Fountain, installed in 1971, the year my family arrived in the Wanganui area. The copper fountain is in the shape of a lily. A 40-minute lighting display occurs every evening, coinciding with when the streetlights are switched on. The display can be activated at any other time by placing a gold coin into the slot.
The aquatic bird life is prolific, with lots of chicks to be seen on our walk.
The video features my young cousin, and a goose who remembered her from last time …
Walk: Wanganui 17
Links
Birds of Rotokawau, Virginia Lake
Virginia Lake Reserve Management Plan
Medical discrimination begins in NZ:
This is my first walk from Wanganui, my new / old hometown. Sadly we had to relocate and there will be no more Auckland / Northland walks for the forseeable future. We arrived back on the 7th November 2021, after enduring 82 days of lockdown in Auckland over one Covid case. Auckland is NZ’s largest city, and it’s still locked down, 112 days later.
There’s more freedom in the regions but discrimination as well.
I would have happily put a link for the cafe in the old caretaker’s cottage next to the Winter Gardens, but not after seeing their sign.
I’m not able to go in. I’ve been having cancer treatment since November 2020, and for safety reasons have elected to wait until 2023 before even considering the so-called “vaccine.” So people like me are discriminated against.
We came back and had a picnic on the lawn in front of that cafe a few days later. I thought there’d be three friends but 30 people turned up. How much business are cafes like this going to lose?
Things are not going back to normal, but even if they did, I wouldn’t go back in there. I understand the cafes are between a rock and a hard place, but the sign excluding me was there before the 2nd December when NZ adopted the medical aparteid system.
We are also barred from DOC (Dept of Conservation) huts and camping sites. “For our health.”
You’ll hear us mention the NZ government on the walk. I wish the lion on the plinth at the gate would turn into Aslan and boot the witch out of Narnia.
***
Note: the above cafe has appeared in the local paper since I wrote about this on the 7th December:
Owner of the Funky Duck Cafe Dave Hill said increased costs across the board alongside very low numbers of customers has them in a tough spot. Photo / Bevan Conley
Wanganui Chronicle, 12 Feb, 2022 Covid-19 Omicron: Whanganui hospitality businesses say life under red is unsustainable
This is what happens when you discriminate.
NZShortWalks 