Whanganui District Council is reminding people to stay safe while enjoying the water over the summer months.
Community Wellbeing Manager, Lauren Tamehana, says enjoying swimming and water activities is very much a part of Whanganui life. For generations, summer has meant heading to our favourite swim spots to cool down and have fun, but she says, It’s important to understand the risks and use this knowledge well when deciding when and where to swim.
She says the dangers around the Wharf Street boat ramp are of concern. This area is generally unsafe for swimming while boats are being launched. Boats are unable to stop suddenly and there is a high risk of serious injury if swimmers become caught in a boat s propeller wash and are struck by a propeller.
Kiwi journalist Kim Vinnell, husband Sean, and dog Patch on their well travelled orange couch
OPINION: From my apartment in Doha, to my home in Whanganui, there are 14,528 kilometres. It’s a long way, but it didn’t feel that far… until 2020. The year Coronavirus changed all our lives forever, and I found myself fighting with strangers on the internet, defending my kiwi-ness, my loyalty, my belonging. It didn’t, of course, start out that way. It started with a new job, in a new city, with a new husband. After meeting in Istanbul a few years ago, and eloping in New York, Sean and I packed up our lives (and fur child) in Turkey and moved to this city built from the desert, on the tip of the Persian Gulf.