Wanganui National Park & Surrounds

The regions of Wanganui and the Manawatu attract visitors from all over the world to experience some of the North Island's most untamed and majestic scenery. The area's Whanganui River is lined with lush native forest, rich in both Maori and European history.

The Whanganui National Park has some of the nation's most beautiful native bushland, with numerous walking tracks and waterways. The Matemateaonga and Mangapurua tracks in the national park offer stunning tramping and hiking tracks without huge crowds. Containing the largest lowland native forest in the North Island, it is also a sanctuary for many native plants, birds and insects.

The focal point of Wanganui is the Whanganui River, once known as the 'Rhine of Maoriland'. The high banks steeped with immense fernery create an aura of history and adventure for canoeists, jet boaters and kayakers.