The highway of the past is set to become the future

About six years ago Darren and Vanessa Mills bought a boat, with the help of some investors, and started a business widely known as the Waikato River Explorer.

Today, that business is expanding and looks set to bring back the use of our original mighty Waikato highway - the Waikato River.

The pair believe Hamilton needs a fast water taxi and a commuter ferry service, on top of the popular scenic cruise and ferry service to the Fieldays event they already run annually.

“Our long-term plan was always to have a couple of boats on the river,” Darren said.

But, when they first set the business up, one of the issues was that there were no wharfs, nowhere to park the boat.

“We found a bunch of investors who were reasonably well resourced and we had a house in Auckland to sell ourselves so we had a little bit of cash and we knew what we were getting ourselves into so we built wharfs in certain places and started leasing Mystery Creek event centre’s jetty as we needed an overnight place. That’s how we got going.”

Once they were up and running, Darren and Vanessa decided when the city started matching them dollar for dollar they would start increasing their services and updating their fleet.

“We’re in a position now where we are looking at the future, as the city is about to build a new wharf at Hamilton Gardens… and they’re also planning on upgrading the jetty by the Waikato Museum in the city so we will be able to offer a city service.”

Darren said the council had allocated $550,000 to the project from the current budget last week.

He said a shortage of available cruise contractors may hold the project up, but it’s hoped that they will have it in place by the summer.

“The commuter service is something that we think is a long-term prospect. It’s very hard to get people out of their cars, however we see possibility to do that with a development that Vanessa is involved with in Horotiu, with Perry Group,” Darren said.

Vanessa, who is also the executive support manager at Perry Group, said there was a lot going on in Horotiu.

“They’re building about 1000 houses out there. The river makes perfect sense to be utilized; a lot of it is based around getting better infrastructure on the river.

“But there are some really good opportunities with developments that are starting to happen. The development I’m talking about is a five-year plan, so realities are it will be a few years away, but we will start building before that – five years is completion,” she said. 

Darren said there had always been the excuse that “we’re not big enough to do this or that and as a result of that we’ve got a very poorly developed public transport system”.

“Now it’s the situation where it’s what the city can afford. Buses are cheaper, and the council has just started introducing double decker buses, but we’re still on the road, still belching diesel. I’m sure people would much rather ride a ferry than they would a train or a bus.”

He said construction of the Gardens jetty would begin on April 30.

“We see the ferry service as a long-term prospect and the Horotiu development is a catalyst to get something going. People will realise it’s a good service and they’ll catch it at Chartwell or Pukete or wherever,” Darren said.

Vanessa said they “really really” wanted to offer a service for people in the city. 

“We can take them to the Gardens and we can do circuits. It’s a hop-on-hop-off service, just like a bus. 

“Getting to the Gardens in the city as a tourist can be a little bit challenging if you don’t have a vehicle, so it is something that we really want to get underway.

“And we’ve talked to the Museum and they want to sell tickets on our behalf and really connect the city,” she said.

The pair believe the connection with the Museum and the Gardens would be the first stage.

“The Hamilton Gardens jetty and the Waikato Museum jetty will be a really good start. I always remember when we started the business and I had to present to the Council about what we were doing, that one of the questions asked was ‘would you consider a commuter service?’ It’s always been in the plans, it’s just the timing and the money,” Vanessa said.

Darren said everyone liked the idea.

“But no one’s prepared to put some money up. We were the idiots that put our lifesavings on the line. But we run well with the right amount of resources and the right amount of product.

“But above all else we believe that the best way for the city to develop as a livable place is for the river to be developed. It’s something unique to the city, there are a few developers around that are doing wonderful things, but the river is this amazing thing that Hamilton has and nobody else has and rather than sit there and look at all day, you can use it.

“Victoria on the River has opened up some opportunity. The good thing about rivers is the weather doesn’t effect sailings and they have an amazing story to tell because they used to be the highways,” Darren said.

Check out the Waikato River Explorer website here for more information.