The Nelson Lakes

Gift Shop trail

A day at the races

Pokororo Fair

CIDER TASTING!





On Sunday, Tom and the Isabels headed off to the Moutere hills to go to the Pokororo Craft Fair. The Fair is held once a year and has stalls selling allsorts of crafts as well as plants and foodstuffs. It is run on a "make or grow principle" and contains no imported or manufactured goods. Again the sun was shining and the enjoyed browsing as well as sampling the local fare.

Saturday Market

On Saturday the 2 Isabels decided to visit the Saturday morning market in Nelson and have a look around at some of the shops which had been pointed out on the bus trip. Nelson's Saturday market is an acclaimed local icon with 100 plus local stalls of fresh produce, food, fashion, art and crafts which serve to showcase the innovation, creativity and abundance of the Nelson Region. It reflects the beauty and diversity of the region and highlights the innovative creativity of the people who live in Nelson.

The Isabels spent a couple of hours browsing the stalls and just enjoying the laid back ambiance of the day.





The also took a stroll along Historic South Street
South St, one of seven heritage precincts in Nelson, is believed to be New Zealand's oldest entire street of homes still standing. Although many of them have been slightly altered or restored and one remodelled significantly after a fire, South St is essentially "original," often described by visitors as "a movie set."

Licourice

After the marathon Crazy Golf in the morning, Isabel(S) decided to have a restful afternoon sitting in the garden reading her book. She also spent a couple of hours perusing the Property News!! Bit of a worry really!



Tom and Findlay decided to have a bit more of an energetic afternoon and see if Isabel still knew how to ride a bike. (It was 15 years since she was last on one.) Much to everyones amazement there was only a very slight wobble then she was off! They just spent 40 or so minutes touring the streets. Tom did get a bit worried at one point after he had told Isabel she didn't have to use her brakes too much. Next thing he knew she had disappeared down Queen Street at a great rate of knots - He reckoned she was nearly reaching the speed limit (50km)and he had to peddle like crazy to catch up with her and tell her to slow down! Fun was had by all and I don't think Isabel's derriere suffered too much!



To finish off the afternoon Tom, the two Isabels and Findlay finished off the monopoly game which they started earlier in the week. Findlay had bought a new World Monopoly game with some of his Christmas money and was keen to show off is financial business skills (Findlay has more money in his savings account than any of the rest of us!) He had a great time virtually bankrupting his Gran and eventually winning the game with several millions of dollars more than anyone else. Gran felt a little aggrieved accusing him of cheating ...and no it wasn't just sour grapes!




The winning tycoon

In the evening we decided to go out for a meal. We headed off to Monaco to the Honest Lawyer Pub. Monaco is a small peninsula near the airport and the Honest Lawyer is a traditional English style country pub by the estuary. We had a lovely meal topped off with some local cider. Quite delicious!





(spot the stripey suntan!)

Crazy Golf

On Friday, Tom was the CEO again so he had arganised a bit of a sport themed day. First stop was Challenge Golf in Richmond. Challenge Golf is the largest mini golf course in the District offering 18 ‘challenging’ holes set on half and acre. The boys, the Isabels and Tom set off at 10 ready for a morning filled with skill, precision, entertainment and a lot of luck. I headed off to have coffee with a friend - a far more sensible option I felt! (Golf is not my forte - even crazy golf!).

Two and a half hours later (yes,2 1/2 hours!) the team returned tired and hot but satisfied with the mornings entertainment. Niall emerged as the winner - scoring only 4 over par, Isabel(J) 2nd, Tom next, then Isabel (S) with Findlay taking up the rear.

WOW!

After the bus trip Isabel(J) and Isabel(S) decided to visit the World of Wearable Arts and Classic Car Museum. - "A mind blowing museum experience". As quoted on its website the museum is one of the “must see” attractions when you visit Nelson.

The annual Montana World of WearableArt™ Awards Show is an amazing two hour theatrical extravaganza showcasing incredible garments, stunning sets, dance, music, lighting and choreography. The show itself is "very difficult to describe, hard to define and utterly impossible to forget". It is held annually in Wellington in September and is certainly something not to be missed if you are in the country at that time. I have been a few times and it is absolutely amazing.

The show originated in Nelson and was first shown in 1987 as a promotion for a rural art gallery in Nelson. Nelson sculptor, Suzie Moncrieff, had a vision to exhibit art in the form of a live theatrical show. Up until a couple of years ago the show was held in Nelson but it has grown so big now that it had to move to Wellington where they could better cater for the large numbers of people who want to see it. Each year more than 35,000 people attend the shows held over 4 days.

The Museum also hosts over 50 cars and motorbikes. This world class collection features the best of motor vehicle design from late 19th century inventions through to modern day marvels.

The 2 Isabels spent a few hours meandering through the exhibits and seemed to thoroughly enjoy the experience.

Bus Trip

Tom went off to work again today so the 2 Isabels and myself decided to go into Nelson and take a ride on the Double Decker city tour bus. The tour took about 1 hour and took us all around Nelson as wel as some of the suburbs. It was a very infomative trip and although it was another hot day the old London Transport Double Decker didn't get too stuffy (no air conditioning and unlike London tour buses it still had its roof on!)

Cable Bay

Once the ice creams were all gobbled up we headed north from Nelson to Cable Bay. Cable Bay is named after the communication cable that connected New Zealand to the rest of the world for many years. Cable Bay was originally named Schroeders Mistake. Then re-named Cable Bay when the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company laid the first Cable across the Tasman from La Perous near Sydney, arriving there on 21 Feb 1876. This connected New Zealand to the rest of the world.

A whole community developed around the Cable Station. In those early days there was no road in and people were often forced to wait on the tide before crossing the river and driving their horse and cart along the side of the estuary.

Nowadays the population is mostly made up of holiday makers. Lots of the houses are rented out as holiday accomadation however the farm land around the Bay has been farmed by the Stuart Family for many generations.

DOC have been working with the landowner and Tom has been involved recently putting in a new public toilet and increasing the signage around the reserve.

Ice cream

After walking up ther centre of New Zealand we stopped in the Botanics Park to have a picnic lunch. The boys were keen to have an ice cream so we headed to the Candy Corner dairy which is quite infamous for its delicious ice cream. Isabel(J) didn't want to be left out so she also had a single scoop boysenseryy ripple cone. And yes she did manage to eat it all!

Centre of New Zealand

Wednesday morning brought another sunny day and Tom had planned a busy day for everyone. In the morning we headed into Nelson to do a short hike up a small hill behind Nelson. There is a monument on top and it is affectionately known as "The Centre of New Zealand". From the top there are great views over Nelson city, the Port and Boulder Bank - a 13 kilometre bank of rocks. It is composed of pebbles and boulders up to 1.2 metres in diameter that have originated from Mackay Bluff at the northern end. During northerly storms the boulders are moved south-west along the bank.