Taumarunui Information Centre

This is the visitor centre for the town affectionately known as 'Taumarunui on the Main Trunk Line', after the 1959 Peter Cape railway song that made the town as famous as it was ever going to be. Of late Taumarunui has worked out this is a positive claim to fame and is enhancing it's reputation as a Rail Heritage Centre. Inside thee information Centre you can See a working model of the Raurimu Spiral, a feat of New Zealand rail engineering.

You got cinders in your whiskers and a cinder in your eye
So you hop off to Refreshments for a cupper tea and pie
Taumarunui, Taumarunui
Taumarunui on the main trunk line.

Taumarunui is a starting place for river trips on the Whanganui and for the forgotten railway. These can be independent trips or organised by one of several commercial operators. From the DOC (Department of Conservation) viewpoint the Whanganui Journey is categorised along with the Great Walks. Trips last several days and take you into stretches of the river remote from road access.

5-TUNNEL FORGOTTEN RAILWAY ADVENTURE FROM TAUMARUNUI

10 TUNNEL RAILCART TOUR FROM TAUMARUNUI

"New Zealand’s longest navigable river starts near Mount Tongariro. Much of its winding journey to the sea near Wanganui (the town) is through the Whanganui National Park. By the time the river was opened up for navigation by Pakeha over 3000 Maori lived along the river banks - they were considered a great tourist attraction on “The Rhine of New Zealand”. The development of the river is largely attributed to one person, Alexander Hatrick, who started the first regular steamer service in 1892 and by 1903 had services running right through to Taumarunui, where they would eventually connect with the rail services and with coaches to Rotorua. At the height of the riverboat service there were twelve steamers and motor vessels, as well as motorised canoes for use in times of very low water levels. The main riverboat trade ceased in the 1920s, owing to the development of better roads, a main trunk railway and other tourist attractions, although riverboats were still operating in the late 1950s. Maori Concerns River navigation has been restricted (a source of grievance to Maori) as water flows were reduced in the 1970s by the diversion of headwaters for use in the hydro power stations on the Waikato River, though the extent of the diversion has since been reduced, following a Planning Tribunal decision. Maori efforts to assert their rangatiratanga over the river have recently been reported on by the Waitangi Tribunal and are now (2003) the subject of negotiations between iwi and the Crown."