Vote Castlecliff
Question 9: Candidate Response
What Our Candidates are Telling Us.
Question 9: What are your best memories and experiences in Castlecliff? How often do you visit Castlecliff?
James Newell: Great days at the beach with the surf club. I regularly visit the beach.
Charlotte Melser: My best memories are swimming, sitting on the dunes looking at the vastness of the ocean, splashing in the stream with my kids and having fires on the beach with friends. I live a block away from the beach, near the playground.
Jenny Duncan: I raised my children in Castlecliff, we returned to live here 7 years ago and absolutely LOVE it. The best move we have made. Best memories are at the beach. So many fun days with surf carnivals, beach digs, swimming and the carpark filled to the brim. Perfect place to raise children.
Rob Vinsen: 45 years ago, at least once a week, our kids loved going to the beach. We used to light a small fire (yikes) and cook up some sausages. I don’t go so much now but still do regular beach walks.
Julian Bailey (Rural Community Board - Kaitoke subdivision): My parents reformed the Butcher Shop into a Cake Shop on Rangiora Street and ran it with Stan Thompson baking, before selling it to Stan in the early 70s. My folks owned 3 Morgon street, My brother, sister and I spent our teenage years, fishing on the mole, jagging under the wharf or beach buggying through the Sand Dunes. (Possibly why I attend Dune replantings) I now live in Putiki but visit Castlcliff regularly.
Rory Smith: I’m not a great beach person, to be honest, but I certainly enjoy visiting the suburb present day to sample the delights of the Citadel Cafe and view the product of the very clever local artists based out there.
Alan Taylor - Horizons-Whanganui Constituency: Fishing with my Grandmother off the wharf as a child… a long time ago. I visit Castlecliff maybe eight times per year, mostly to attend functions, or enjoy the benefits of Rangiora Street. I visited the mole area at lunchtime considerably more prior to Covid when my wife worked in Castlecliff. It was the best open-air lunch spot in Whanganui (mainly on good days!).
Glenda Brown: Take the family fishing at the mole and picnics on the beach are my memories although they seem so far away now! I don’t visit Castlecliff beach as often as I should take time out, but I do visit the amazing Café Citedal often😊
Scott Phillips: I loved going to “the beach” as a child, through to my mid-teens when I moved to Hamilton (with no beach). Nine years ago my wife and I bought a “beach house” more a bach/shack type thing in Taupata street at a time when advice was “buy anywhere in Whanganui EXCEPT Castlecliff”, we enjoyed many sunsets over the beach from our house. Now I live in Durie Hill full time, I am planning to spend a lot more time there this coming summer.
Daniel (DC) Harding: Having grown up in Castlecliff I’ve had every experience possible – the good, the bad and the ugly. Castlecliff’s resilience is what I remember most. Being labelled the “hood” growing up – my saying is “I was raised in the hood, churched in the hood, schooled in the hood”. And for the most part that wasn’t true until the late 90’s early 2000s. Camera’s have been installed to ensure safety, and gang violence has been an issue – but through it all, those who stayed, now appreciate the rejuvenation of our home or home away from home. I now remember coffee along the beach, beautiful sunsets, and opportunities to take stunning photos of Mount Taranaki on a clear evening.
Ross Fallen: Um, try age 3 onwards and sand castles, lucky dip digs, near drowning as not a water baby. Playing bingo at the motor camp with my mum using pennies. As a teen, it was fishing and gutting them off the wharf with my father and uncles. Exploding home brew in the veggie patch and great neighbours popping in and out for yarn or a cuppa and trading spare fruit and veggies from our gardens. Now, it is my walks with my dogs and partner at sunset and bringing visitors down for fish and chips and our stunning sunsets. And still, great neighbours popping in and out. So very Castllecliff and it’s why I came back. I live here. It is home. To enjoy the cliff you gotta walk around it, go to the beach, shop locally, and we do.
David Cotton - Horizons, Whanganui Constituency: When first moving to Whanganui 35 years ago, I lived in Polson Street and often swam at the beach after work, along with many lazy Sundays picnicking on the beach.
Andrew Tripe: Lots of memories as a kid especially the rawness of the coastline, the sunsets and the driftwood.
Kate Joblin: My family come to Whanganui in 1970 when I was eight. One of the greatest excitements of that time was the “Dig In” at the beach. It was so exciting! I don’t remember winning anything but I can clearly remember the fun of digging for the little silver tubes.
Helen Craig: The annual Artists Open Studio at the Duncan Pavillion and the wood sculpture beach competition of a few years ago. I’m a regular visitor to Citadel and art galleries in the area. I visit every couple of months.
Roy Brown: I and my family love Castlecliff and visit there often. The rugged coastline is just beautiful, and my best memories and experiences are watching my children swim, build sandcastles etc. and have fun on the beach.
Blair Jones: I got my Nana to take to the beach, I couldn’t believe the waves and the salty water, can we sell that and we had an icecream in the pavilion. My English grandfather hated it but it brought us together, dollar chips, surfing for the first time at morgan st, going for a walk on windy unseen shore.
Rodd Trott: My best memories and experiences growing up as a kid at 47 Matai Street were the beach – just great. More recently paddling (coastal rowing, rowing, waka, kayak) from the port.
Michael Law: From watching my sons catch their first Kahawai at the mole, to watching my daughter take her first alone trip down the slide on the domain playground. I have fond memories and still experience new ones regularly with my children on the beach, walking along the dunes and playing in the parks.
Charlie Anderson: Childhood memories at Castlecliff school, especially fishing at the Castelciff wharf. Although I was never allowed to fish over the side, I had great success, fishing through the cracks, especially when they let the blood from the Abbitoirs out, the herrings went crazy for it
Philippa Baker-Hogan: My family and I have been more pool swimmers but have regularly visited and enjoyed both our key beaches over the summer. I have got into a habit of biking to both beaches in the last 2 years and have really enjoyed Castelcliff on a flat day, in particular. I have recently done some ‘stomping’ with girlfriends at Castlecliff Beach – a great new way to keep fit and a strong core!
Dan Jackson: My best memories would be when I was a young kid BMXing to the beach and swimming all day with my mates before buying a couple of dollars worth of chips from the Rangiora St dairy on the way home. That was so long ago they used to sell single cigarettes too but luckily I never took up the habit. Fishing from the mole, serving as a surf lifeguard, bonfire parties, house parties that backed onto the beach, crossing the bar in fishing boats, my one and only game of rugby league at Lundon Park, buying flagons from the Castlecliff Pub bottle store are all great memories too. I helped my Dad and Ray Hudson collect and recycle the glass that used to be the main fundraiser for whatever the predecessor for Project Castlecliff was (I believe it was the Port Bowen Trust). I visit Castlecliff at least once or twice a week through my work which takes me all over Whanganui. Prior to my current occupation, I worked at our recycling yard, Rivercity Scrap Metals, at 455 Heads Rd for 15 years and dealt with the Castlecliff community daily. I lived in a house on the north side of Mosston Rd for a year when I was younger and I know many people in the area.
Phillip (Bear) Rewiti: Grown up there, fishing and eating Kai Moana at the beach, too many memories to mention.
Allan Wrigglesworth - Horizons, Whanganui Constituency: I live in Castlecliff, walk the beach almost every day and surf there when I am able. I raised a family here..
Hamish McDouall: One old, and one new. When I was little I won a prize at the Big Dig! That used to be an amazing event. More recently walking from Mowhanau to Castlecliff for the first time ever was a great experience and prepared me for four days walking Ninety Mile Beach.
Your Response: I live here and walk the beach most days. The best memories of Castlecliff are sunsets. Our West Coast sunsets are to die for and I get quite grumpy if work of “stuff” means I miss even one.