Wanganui: An Introduction

Wanganui's entrance and chapel

     This post is going to be quite brief, but here are a few photos from the past four months.  Now, I know what you're thinking; "four months and all we're going to get is a 'quite brief' update?  What the hell Emory?!" and I empathize, but only a little.  I have been extremely busy with my duties at Collegiate in both the classroom and the school's marketing department.  Between teaching fragile-minded Kiwis how to string more than seven consecutive swears together and pretending to know how to effectively operate various Microsoft editing tools I have been doing lots of exploring.







     Wanganui is a farm town of about 20 thousand that rests in the crutch formed by the Wanganui river's collision with the Tasman sea on the North Island of New Zealand.  Don't be fooled though, those twenty thousand people are spread out over about 900 square miles.  It often seems that the locals have made a pact never to have more than 100 people on Victoria Avenue at the same time.

Sunset from Memorial Tower on Drurie Hill 

     The town is centered around the Victorian lamp-topped Watt Fountain.  The fountain resides on the verdure-lined Victoria Avenue, which acts Wanganui's spinal cord.  Upon my arrival, I decided to go for a walk to get my bearings of my new home.  I walked out of Collegiate's main drive, made a right onto Victoria Avenue and proceeded to gain the potential to be hired as Wanganui's cartographer within 15 minutes.  

Selwyn, the building on the right, is where I reside

OMG SO EFFING ARTSY!!!

   





















     The town was originally settled by Europeans in 1840 when New Zealand's native Maori's were swindled, ahem, negotiated with in the creation of the Treaty of Waitangi.  Though the Maori's were complicit with the the treaty's translation, the European settlers, in their brevity, forgot to inform the islanders that they would be surrendering most of their land to the crown.  Consequentially, lugubrious sentiments linger to this day even though the reemergence of Maori culture has left Wanganui with an opulence of native influence.  

The largest windfarm in the Southern hemisphere

     Consider this a vapid introduction to the township that I am living in, I promise my future posts will capture cathartic moments of excitement and joy.  

     

Sunset over WCS's rugby/cricket field

Brief, no?  In our next adventure we'll delve into the androgynous enigma known as

Thailand!!