Skip to content.

Spectrum

Sundays at 12:09 pm, repeated on Thursdays at 7:30 pm.

with Jack Perkins, Deborah Nation, David Steemson

Sunday, 14 February 2010: Postie Plus

 River road

Postie Noel Petherick brakes the 4WD beside the derelict microwave nailed to the fence which now serves as a mailbox. The folk who live along the Whanganui river road take a pride in presenting Noel with eccentric mailboxes – an old fridge, a milk churn, even an upended canoe, and one letterbox is now a nest of starlings. Locals often wait by their boxes to chat with Noel, hitch a lift, or give him return mail. Barring bad weather or slips on the road, you can set your clock by his timetable.

In addition to delivering mail, and all kinds of odds ‘n’ sods 5 days a week, Noel also carries tourists keen to tramp the Whanganui National Park or savour the beauty and adventure of the river by canoe or jet boat. Others are eager to drink in the history of the quaint river valley settlements including Jerusalem, once the home of Suzanne Aubert who founded the Catholic Sisters of Compassion. Jerusalem was also the site of poet James K Baxter’s 1970s commune.

Spectrum’s Jack Perkins rides shotgun for Noel Petherick for 70 plus kilometers to Pipiriki, where the road branches away from the river.

microwave

Photos 500pages

 

The Team

Executive Producer: Jack Perkins

Produced and presented by Jack Perkins, Deborah Nation and David Steemson

email: spectrum@radionz.co.nz

mail: P O Box 123, Wellington

About Spectrum

Spectrum is a long-running documentary series which captures the essence of New Zealand through stories, landscape and people.

more ››

Podcast

The link(s) below can be pasted into your podcasting software.

Podcast (MP3)

For more podcasts and the conditions of use, please see our podcast page.

Radio New Zealand Audio

hide window

Audio is categorised based on the frequency of the programme it was heard in. Click on the headings below to access the programmes. If you are unsure where to look, try the audio search or the latest audio page.

Live Audio Streams

Streams are in Windows Media format. Mac and Linux users see our help section.

If you use Windows Vista and streaming has stopped working see our help section.

Daily On Demand

Weekly Audio On Demand

Music On Demand

Documentaries, Lectures and Forums

Parliament Audio

Podcasts & Downloads

Downloads and Podcasts are available on selected programmes. Our podcast page has a complete list of feeds.

Audio Help

National Access Keys

Why does this site look so plain?