Immerse yourself in Wanganui, a charming riverside destination packed with historical, cultural and gastronomic delights.

ON THE BANKS of the languid Whanganui River sits the charming 19th-century port city of Wanganui (population 40,000-something) – a compact riverside gem with more cultural and historical highlights than you can shake a stick at, and blessed with a beautiful setting. Just minutes from downtown lie rolling green pastures studded with berry and nut farms; beyond are the jaw-dropping delights of the great prehistoric wilderness that is the Whanganui National Park.

Once shabby, the city’s jugular vein of Victoria Avenue has been gentrified with kerbside gardens and gaslights. The street is flanked by historic buildings dating back to the 1800s, now serving as shops, restaurants and cafes with coffee and cuisine easily on a par with what you’ll find in the big smoke.

Originally a Maori stronghold, the face of Wanganui was changed forever by the arrival of European settlers unable to buy land in Wellington. A booming riverboat tourism and trade business was subsequently established along the watery stretch once known as “the Rhine of the Pacific” (which in recent years was the setting of the moody Vincent Ward film River Queen).

For a crash course in the rich history of the area, swing by the Whanganui Regional Museum. Founded in 1892 (60 years after the last bloody tribal clash in the area on the windswept hill beyond), it boasts a smorgasbord of treasures including the giant, bullet-ridden war canoe Te Mata-O-Houroa, a beautiful ceremonial Maori cloak fashioned out of more than 200 kiwi, and ghoulish early rat-, native bird- and eel-catching traps.

Still on the arts trail, the nearby Chronicle Glass Studio – once home to the Wanganui Chronicle, the oldest New Zealand newspaper still in business – won’t disappoint. The city has a reputation as home to some of the best glass artists in the land so the studio is a great spot to buy some art, make some yourself, or simply pull up a pew to watch the passing parade of experts in action on the fiery factory floor below.

With Wanganui’s Opera House and War Memorial Hall (said to be one of the best examples of modernist architecture in New Zealand) also on the menu, culture vultures can happily spend a few days soaking up the city sights. But to hit town and ignore the surrounds would be a crime.

At 317km long, the Whanganui is the country’s longest navigable river – formed, according to Maori legend, after a testosterone-charged battle between Mt Taranaki and Mt Tongariro over the love of beautiful Mt Pihanga. It’s impossible not to be blown away by the majesty of this waterway.