River cruises

Welcome to the Historical Maritime Park and Museum

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River cruises are currently unavailable

As our wharf area has become a construction site for our new floating pontoons, we will not be able to do any river cruises with all vessels out of the water at present. We are expecting that this development will all be finish by Christmas. This is exciting for us, we have worked so hard for this for a long time.

Next year we will have 3 vessels on the Waihou and Ohinemuri rivers doing cruises, operating from lovely new floating pontoons at Maritime Park. We will keep you updated on completion.

The paddle boat Tamati does river cruises up and down the Waihou and Ohinemuri rivers and is available for weddings, birthdays and any private functions you may require. Tour bus groups requirements are all catered for.

Cruises are $25.00 a head. Lunches, morning and afternoon teas can be arranged. Contact us for queries about large group bookings.

Trips are tide dependent and depart at a different time each day. Colin and Gloria would love you to enjoy a cruise on our paddle boat Tamati. You can also enjoy a visit through the Historical Maritime Museum.

Scroll down to read more about the history of Tamati.

Enquiries

Call Gloria or Colin on 0274 742 551 or 07 862 6316 for more information, or click the button to send us an email (paddleboat12@xtra.co.nz).

History of Tamati

Tamati was built 1902 by Bailey & Lowe in Auckland. From 1900 onward, Bailey & Lowe were one of the preeminent motor launch builders supplying launches to all parts of the country. Tamati is 32 feet and has a kauri planked hull with hardwood (Jarrah) ribs.

She was used as a private boat for many years then in the mid 1930s she was owned by a family from the Spa Hotel in Taupo and was used as part of their tourist business. Guests could enjoy fishing and sightseeing excursions as part of their visit. During the war she was tied up and seldom used. After the war she was bought by a family who used her as a private boat for many years and with various owners from the 1950s through to the 1980s.

In private ownership Tamati had her cabin raised twice. She looked a lot different to the time when she was well known to the Spa’s guests in the 1930s. In 1998 she was in need of a lot of tender care and was purchased by Dave Hindman of Hokitikia who, with loving care, completely restored the hull and rebuilt her into the paddle vessel as seen today.

Dave relaunched her in 2001 and operated Tamati on Lake Ianthe at Hari Hari as a tourist venture for many years and on sold her to present owners Colin and Gloria James who operate Tamati from Historical Maritime Park in Paeroa.