My Angel is a Centrefold

Apart from the occasional  wizard in a pointy hat on the high street, Nelson is a fairly mainstream alternative sort of city, if a place can be both at the same time! Suited office workers walk next to dreadlocked, tattooed backpackers. Both patronise the organic food carts and cafes, alongside retirees out for afternoon tea and scones (the Devonshire cream tea is alive and popular here). And for all the Yorkshire folk, ‘scone’ rhymes with ‘John’ here!

We like to stroll around the streets to get a feel for  the ‘groove’ of a place, and Nelson is great for that, not too big to walk around easily. Plenty of parks and walking tracks to explore.

You know you have been travelling in a country for some time when you need a haircut, and we both get a much needed trim, and celebrate with a night at the theatre to see some stand up comedy (including Wellington’s DJ Vinyl Burns, who produces slapstick and dodgy magic tricks in the Tommy Cooper style.

W.O.W!

We continue our exploration of weird at the World of Wearable Art museum, which combines art and the human form, using extraordinary materials, from wood, to glass, metal and even suitcases!  Checkout the YouTube video by googling ‘world of wearable art 2015’ if interested to see more.

And for the boys, they also have a classic car collection…

Lost and Found

Over Easter weekend, most things close, and alcohol sales are prohibited. You can get a drink if buying a meal, so we visit the Founders Park, a sort of Beamish with a train ride instead of a tram. Good fun looking at all the exhibits and old buildings which were transported here to construct the outdoor museum (though the gift shop is closed, being the holidays and all!).

Next door to the Founders is the Japanese gardens where we meet two Japanese girls and take each other’s photo!

Sweet As!

The Nelson region is famed for its food culture. Mike enjoys craft beers at Eddy Line in Richmond, and I have a lavender and rosemary flavoured chicken pizza! We sample many gastronomic delights at the Sweet As cafe and a local internet cafe, fortifying us for some vinyard tours around Blenheim.

Dead centre of town

For our walking, we base ourselves in Picton Tombstone Backpackers  next to the cemetery, and apart from the three cats (which we are allergic to) and the all night ferry freight terminal opposite our window, it is very comfy with mostly French, English, Australian and German travellers with the odd stray Irish man talking blarney at us when we are trying to cook!

Our ‘resting place’ for a few days

Sounds good!

“When the four sons of Rangi the Sky Father travelled to the heavens to meet Rangi’s wife Papatuanuku, the Earth Mother, their canoe capsized on the journey home. The canoe became the South Island, and the Marlborough Sounds are the prow of the canoe.”

The Marlborough Sounds are where sea and land are intertwined in peaceful harmony now, in contrast to their turbulent past, where whaling stations flourished and local Maori were locked in battle with invaders from the north!

We enjoy a ramble down the Snout Track and tramping on the Queen Charlotte Track from Mistletoe Bay to Lochmara Bay is one of the highlights of our tour.

Kayaking in the Sounds is magical, as we glide past beech trees and ponga ferns, with bellbirds singing their melodious chorus and kingfishers flitting among the branches.

Leaving the Sounds, we catch the interislander ferry for Wellington, continuing our journey in North Island, where we swap kayaks and forest for canoes, hobbits and Mount Doom……but more on that in the next blog!

As a prelude to our Hobbiton experience, we can’t resist visiting the maker of the One Ring, Jens Hanson, based in Nelson!

See ya later! Mike and Kath xx