Nelson : Water and Wine

Nelson : Water, Wearable Art and Wine

We spent a week in sunny Nelson, on the north shore of South Island and ( according to the plaque in town- in the geographical centre of New Zealand). Our accomodation was a house on a cliff on the outskirts of town overlooking the fabulous Tahunanui beach. We watched great sunsets every night and had a 5 min walk to the beach. The beach was gorgeous and not crowded and had many of my favorite birds : the oyster catchers. One of the most interesting exhibits in town was the Museum of Wearable Art. It started as a competition for designers in 1987 to create clothing that was unusual and made of interesting materials. The winners of the various exhibitions are displayed on mannequins on a mechanized catwalk that rotates in time to music to show the dress from all sides. One dress was created entirely from white plastic bags, another was made of q tips. One dress was to be a garment for Demeter, goddess of the harvest and fertility. It looked like a maternity dress made of many different types of beans and seeds and corn husks. There was a bra category with one bra called hirsute made entirely of human hair and one called groper of two giant red groper ( or grouper heads).Unfortunately, they did not allow photos of the dresses. Griz was more interested in the classic car section that had cars in mint condition illustrating the history of car making. Most were off limits, but he did get to sit in a 1953 Holden and stand beside his favorite - a TR3. We also saw an exhibit of Da Vinci's machines in the local museum- everything from his flying machines, to tanks and war machines to levers, cogs and water wheels. Griz liked the model of the man on giant wooden skis and huge wooden poles called "walking on water".

We had a great day kayaking in Abel Tasman Park. The waters were clear and calm ( mostly- except when we got to sail back with a strong wind at our backs). We saw seals, had lunch on the beach and had a view of the famous split apple rock.

Outside of Nelson is a large agricultural area where apples, pears, and grapes are grown. We toured several wineries, got to sample award winning sheep cheese and got to see hops growing ( the only place in NZ where hops are grown). We sampled local crafts and produce at the Saturday Nelson market, although we got a bit soggy as it was our only rainy day. Tomorrow, we head off through the mountains and Lewis Pass to the Hanmer Hot Springs