Historic Paddleboat makes a move in the Waikato

New Zealand’s oldest operating paddleboat is on the road again. The Otunui paddleboat moves to its new home in Mangakino tomorrow 3 November where it will be launched following a blessing from local Kaumatua around lunchtime.

The Otunui’s new owners are taking her home with them to Mangakino where they will offer scheduled and charter trips for up to 48 passengers on the tranquil waters of Lake Maraetai.

Built as a kitset in the UK in 1907, The Otunui was then shipped to Whanganui where she was assembled and finished. She operated on the Whanganui River until being wrenched from her moorings by the river during a storm, sunk and abandoned in the 1960’s.

Refloated and rebuilt in the 1980’s, The Otunui worked again carrying passengers on the river before being moved to Lake Okataina and then again to the Waikato River at Aratiatia, carrying passengers to the base of the Huka Falls in Taupo.

Then in April 2003, a suspicious fire burnt her to the waterline and she was removed to Coromandel. After a three-year refurbishment, The Otunui was once again returned to the water, this time on the Waihou River and operated from Te Aroha.

The Otunui will share the Waikato waterway with rowers, wake boarders, water skiers, kayakers and trout fisherman and waka ama.

Mangakino offers a host of activities including, a golf course, mountain biking and tramping on the Waikato River Trail, rock climbing, horse treks, a solar heated public pool, tramping in the Pureora Forest, rental baches plus backpacker and lodge or hotel style accommodation. The newly rebuilt Pouakani Marae will offer a Tikanga Maori accommodation and cultural experience in the near future.