New Zealand Holiday - Week 6 and 7 - Nelson and neighbourhood - 3rd March to 18th March
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Nelson - an Admirable location.
It's great to travel but its even better to put down roots for 2 whole weeks. No packing up for 14 days -whoopee! And we are staying in Nelson.
Nelson has a great deal going for it. It's a pint-sized City that has just about everything and is also great base to explore the surrounding region with it's lovely beaches, lakes and vineyards. We visited some old favourites and found some new ones. Oh, and there are plenty of Pubs, Restaurants and Coffee Houses.
The Vic in Nelson
Tw's on the Ginger Beer
Our new Apartment was just North of Nelson underneath a residential property in Atawhai, a hillside residential suburb. We did not have much of a view from our basement dwelling but it was inexpensive and only 5 minutes from the City by car.
Atawhai - hilltop view at sundown
Lake Rotoiti
Lake Rotoiti was a must-do for us. It's an interesting drive to the small village of St. Arnaud, very close to the Lake. We were surprised to find that there's a good lunch spot there. We thought we would be picnicking but found the Rotoiti Alpine Lodge in the village. Nice pizza and cake. The water in the Lake is quite warm in March and could not resist taking a dip. I didn't step on any eels. The area is unspoiled. Just a car park with people stopping off to take in the view or go for walks in the bush.
The Tophouse - closed today - on the way to St.Arnaud
Lake Rotuiti
Cable Bay
Cable Bay
Cable Bay
Cable Bay is where the first telegraph cable came ashore. It's just a short drive to the North of Nelson.
There were problems with the road so our first attempt to get there was aborted. We were told the road would be open at the weekend so we made it at the second attempt. There's a good cafe, The Cable Bay Cafe and some decent walks. It really is frightening how parched everything is, its been a very dry Summer. Good for us tourists of course but challenging for the Farming Community.
Centre of New Zealand Lookout
Centre of NZ lookout
Journey to the Centre of New Zealand is a very pleasant walk up to a lookout point above the City.
Kaiteriteri Beach
Kaiteriteri Beach
Kaiteriteri is a pretty and popular beach about an hour North of Nelson. It's more like a small but busy European resort with the road just behind the beach. On the day we visited the weather suddenly changed as the wind did a swerve. It went from Beach weather to 'hang on to your hat' in about half an hour. We sat in a beach cafe and had Fish and Chips. There was a group of German Girls at the next table, adding to the European feel.
Marahau
We intended to travel up the coast from Marahau and explore the initial part of the Abel Tasman track, but the strong winds deterred us. Canoeing is a favored activity here, and several groups were surprised by the abrupt shift in the wind. Luckily, the brisk onshore breeze pushed the canoeists safely to the beach. A fleet of individually named tractors was ready to retrieve the canoes with trailers. We found refuge in The Sprig Cafe.
Beach Tractors ready for action in Marahau
Marahau Tractor rescue
Marahau
Marahau
Marahau from the Sprig Cafe
Tahunanui Beach
Tahunanui is the main beach area in Nelson, there's plenty of parking and a nice greenspace behind. It's really close to the City so dead easy for the locals to pop down at the end of the day. We visited several times.
Tahunanui Beach in Nelson
Moutere Inn
The Moutere Inn is a very good country pub in the Moutere Valley. We only stopped for a drink but I would have been quite happy stopping for Dinner and the Quiz Night.
Brooke Waimarama Sanctuary
About 4 miles South of Nelson there is a bird sanctuary. It's fenced off to prevent alien intruders. They are making big efforts in NZ to limit introduced predators such as Rats and Possums in general but particularly in certain areas where they are re-introducing local species. This sanctuary is a bit special.
Quayside Wandering
Its pleasant by the Quay on a sunny day. There are Cafes and Restaurants to check out. We had a good meal at Styx with D & D and coffee at the Boat Shed.
TW on the quayside in Nelson
Down by the quay
On your bike - The Great Taste Trail
Riding bikes is popular in the Nelson Area.The Great Taste Trail is a nice flat easy ride, as far as Brightwater anyway. If I lived in the area it would be my regular exercise run. Importantly Brightwater has a great coffee stop. Headquarters is great for a light lunch as well.
At Headquarters in Brightwater - coffee time
The wibbly wobbly bridge on the Great Taste bike trail
On your bike - to Rabbit Island
Nelson to Rabbit Island is another flat ride. It is not pretty all the way but the Rabbit Island Beach is lovely. It was a cool day so I didn't go in the water. Just had a paddle. I carried on the trail and took a bike ferry across the inlet to Mapua Wharf and the Smokehouse for lovely Fish and Chips lunch. I did press on further but picked up a puncture and had to be rescued by the bike hire man. Bit embarrassing! I should have been able to change the tube but I couldn't get the tyre off the rim. It's an operation I find tricky with wide tyres.
We drove back to Rabbit Island a few days later and checked out the water, very pleasant and empty of tourists . NZ has so many nice beaches.
Bike to Rabbit Island
Rabbit Island Beach
Croquet in the City Centre.
There is still plenty of greenspace in the City. We played Croquet on the large lawns in the centre of town.
Nelson Market
The Saturday Market was good fun. Lots of different craft and food stalls. I bought myself a hand-made hat to keep the sun at bay. Also invested in some local honey and tea. Had a pleasant stop at the Comida Cafe afterwards.
Vintage Nelson
At the back of the town there are some lovely old properties. We had lunch on the Terrace on our final day at a very smart Melrose House before heading for the Airport.
Melrose House
Lunching at Melrose House
We found quite a few eateries and places to have a comfortable drink in Nelson. We had a Pizza at Stefanos on an Italian day. Unfortunately the fire alarms sounded and we were evacuated
We were amused by one particular pub and address. The Honest Lawyer in Quiet Woman Way, can there be a more unlikely combination?
An afternoon ride across Dorset 70km Dorchester to Beer I passed this way a year ago and really enjoyed the Dorset countryside on NCN 2. It’s a nice quiet route albeit with a few hills particularly on the approach to Devon. Hardy Monument Typical Dorset Countryside Set off down the Weymouth Road in Dorchester for a short distance and then took a right turn to join NCN 2. The City and the traffic were soon left behind and I was into open country. Headwind today! A bit bumpy across a farm track before getting back on the road through Martinstown and heading up the big hill towards the Hardy Monument. Need to be hardy to get up there! This is not a memorial to Thomas Hardy, the local author, but to Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy (kiss me Hardy) a distant relation who captained HMS Victory at Trafalgar. It’s closed at the moment but, when open, it provides great views from its chimney top towards Portland. For every uphill there is fortunately a downhill and I cruised down an
A seat with the choir - 26th October 2013 In the cheap seats again Royal Albert Hall in October TW likes to make sure we have the occasional dose of Culture, bit like the winter flu jab. Where better to go than the iconic Royal Albert Hall. It is only an hour in the car, parking is easy and it is a keenly priced £18 for a comfy seat. Very reasonable when you have a top Orchestra, The Royal Philharmonic, and 500 singers to entertain you for the evening. I felt a bit under-dressed when we arrived as the seats next to us were occupied by elegant Ladies in posh frocks. When TW pointed out they were the choir and were the hired help for the evening I felt a lot more comfortable. Sitting alongside the choir is actually not too bad, have just to remember not to stand up when they do. Hearing them sing is also not a problem. Take your seats The programme contained familiar tunes. The warm up was the William Tell Overture. He was a Swiss chap he used to sit an Apple on his son'
An Italian Escape With Covid in abeyance and another health issue resolved it was time to head South for a week in Italy. Bologna 17th May 2022 We chose the noble City of Bologna as our starting point and BA from LHR our carrier of choice. We had a shedload of BA credits from all our cancelled flights over the Winter so we even took checked luggage! Really great to be landing in Italy and even better that they did not make us line-up in the 'Other Passport' queue, we were straight through the e-gates onto the Marconi shuttle into the City. Bologna Station is a bit of a maze and we struggled to find our way out. Eventually we found a long overpass that took us to the front of the building and a Taxi to our digs for the first two nights. Coincidentally this was in Via Marconi. I thought the comms pioneer was an adopted Englishman but clearly he is very well remembered over here. Our La Dolla Apartment was really nice and modern, a bit of a contrast to the lobby and stairs but th
A long-standing commitment meant a Saturday night visit to the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton. The show was about a novice nun who goes to work in the house of a retired Navy man with seven kids. You can guess what happens next, the kids are jumping in and out of bed with her, they do things with goats, the father goes off and the children go wild and are dressed up in curtain material. Should have been in the News of the World, or a case for Social Services, but you guessed it, the Sound of Music on stage! It was quite good actually, should have been Connie Fisher in the Maria role. She won the TV programme to find a Maria for the West End show. At the interval Jacqui asked the lady next to me ‘who is playing Maria’ as it obviously was a stand-in? (we were too tight to buy a programme). “It’s not Connie and I’m cross, in fact I’m very cross, I’m going to tell them I’m cross. I only came to see Connie!” - whoops. I thought it was hilarious, if it was White Hart Lane and Harry making
The Sound of Raindrops on Roses Salzburg still looks pretty good in bad weather and a few raindrops on the roses didn’t dampen our enthusiasm for a wander around the narrow streets and gardens of the old town. The streets were empty as the tourists were forced inside. We joined them eventually and had a nice delayed birthday meal at St Peters Stiftskeller. This claims to be the oldest restaurant in Central Europe, it’s been serving since 803 AD. The toilets are much more recent. The cheap end of the menu is pretty reasonable. That’s one of many good things about Austrian restaurants. The first glance at the menu might cause a sharp intake of breath but they normally have a few simple, standard, dishes that locals can afford.
Heading for Wellington and the South Island. Seatoun Coastal Tour Highway One took us Southward from Wanganui. The morning's highlight was a coffee break in the lively town of Foxton at the delightful Robert Harris Cafe The young lady who took our order, seemingly around ten years old, was remarkably efficient. The patrons were all locals with many wearing sporting gear, giving us the impression that Foxton is a town enthusiastic about sports? Kapiti Coast Next stop, the challenging-to-pronounce Paraparaumu. It was our first time using Airbnb, and our initial experience in Raumati South was extremely positive, thanks to Ngahuia . Our very comfortable property was in the front garden of a house in a quiet residential road. We even extended our stay as it was so nice. We had planned to take a boat to Kapiti Island, but the forecast of rain and gales made us reconsider. This was the first bout of bad weather on our trip. With Wellington just a short drive away, we decided to pay a
Bad Hofgastein to Flachau - March 2010 Heading for home - above Alpendorf - downhill to the bus stop The Ski Amade lift pass that we buy for the Gastein Valley also covers a large slice of this region of Austria. Today’s tour took us over to Flachau, home village of the Herminator, Hermann Maier. Leaving the Gastein Valley at Dorfgastein we took the lift and skied down to Grossarl. From there the local bus took us on a 15 minute trip down the Grossarl valley to Alpendorf, an alpine village above St. Johann in Pongau. A succession of lifts and ski runs took us over the Gernkogel, Sonntagskogel and Grafenberg summits and down into Wagrain. At Wagrain it was a short shuttle bus ride, soon to be a lift, across town to the Flying Mozart lift and onwards up to the Griessenkareck summit above Flachau. Time out for lunch in the Waldgasthof then down the Hermann Maier World Cup run to Flachau valley station. Have to say I liked the look of Flachau. From what I saw it has wide open sl
The Sounds and Otago This might just be the Mirror Lake! After spending a week in Queenstown, we bid farewell to our apartment in Remarkables Park and embarked on our journey to Te Anau, the gateway to Milford Sound. The route was quite straightforward. Along the way, we stopped at Bracken Hall in Mossburn, an old-fashioned shop that seemed to sell everything. After purchasing a plush Kiwi, we continued to Te Anau. We had pre-booked at Parklands Motel, where we checked in early before going out for lunch. The owner was incredibly helpful, offering valuable advice for our excursion the following morning, including parking tips at Milford Sound. She also recommended a great spot for lunch, the Sandfly , located in the town center. It was a bustling Kiwi cafe, and although busy, we were content to wait for our vegetarian breakfasts. Following lunch, we made our way to Lake Manapouri, which is roughly a 20-minute journey. This lake serves as the departure point for the Doubtful Sound Tour.
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