The Timaru Herald 18 Apr 2020
Medinella Fauth beside a Wuhoo sign at Caroline Bay created with the help of her parents Roselyn and Chris Fauth and the Aigantighe Art Gallery
Being confined to home has its challenges and I’ve been spending way too much time sitting looking at ‘‘stuff’’ on the computer.
One of the great things I’ve come across is a fantastic website wuhootimaru.co.nz, the brainchild of Timaru couple Roselyn and Chris Fauth.
This motivated young couple have two young children and started the website as a way for young families to find adventures and activities around Timaru that don’t cost anything but get people out and about in our town.
It’s a voluntary operation and they spend a lot of time putting together this valuable resource for people to use. It adds greatly to the experience of Timaru being a wonderful place to raise a family.
Background help from Aoraki Tourism and some behind the scenes contributors have seen the site grow faster than it normally would.
In response to the confronting situation of lockdown and not being able to freely wander about Timaru they’ve come up with the clever option of ‘‘Finding a Wuhoo at Home’’.
Among some fun crafting ideas for the children there is also a section under development on the site suggesting you ‘‘do a discovery’’ on your home, or an interesting home you have seen on your walks, and find out its history.
There is plenty of good reading here, lots of advice for research and the links are easy to follow and full of ways to access information and contributors have helped with articles, sourcing of old maps and arranging copyright permissions etc.
There are still some wonderful old places around South Canterbury and you may have seen a house or home that has piqued your interest; why not spend some time digging deeper. You will be rewarded to see the amount of information that is available when following the research ideas within the site and how to use them.
Walkers will have seen some of the art signs Wuhoo have installed around our coastline at Caroline Bay and Patiti Point. They created these in conjunction with the Aigantighe Art Gallery and Friends of the Aigantighe, and they are a fun discovery on the coastal walkway.
They showcase a piece of art from the Aigantighe permanent collection along with explanatory text and historical images from the South Canterbury Museum’s collection. It’s a wonderful collaboration of the resources on offer in our city and a brilliant way of bringing it into the public domain.
Big thumbs up here. It’s so heartening to see how altruistic people are in giving their precious time to creating resources others in the community can access and enjoy.