Nelson really is a wonderful city. (Have I said that about every place I've been?) Small, population just about 50,000 but big enough to have everything, or at least everything I was hoping for: a charming downtown, many fine historical buildings, delightful older homes, a river with a walking/cycling trail, lots of hills, also with lots of trails, great views and even a very nice beach, which apparently is hardly ever crowded. And of course a museum and art galleries.
Street signs along Trafalgar St.
Buildings along Trafalgar St.,
the main downtown street
Christchurch Cathedral,
as seen from Trafalgar St.
I had not realized that the very centre of NZ is located in Nelson. You have to work to get there as it's at the very top of one of the wee mountains. Makes me wonder if they haven't perhaps adjusted the exact spot to suit the landscape! The day I did that hike it was overcast but the view was still fantastic and I took a 360 degree film with my camera so I would not forget what I'd seen. Pretty special.
I was in Nelson for four whole days and filled much of them with lots more walking, to the centre of NZ, to the summit of the Grampian Reserve, along the Maitai River, wondering around the town core and some of the older sections of town.
View from Grampian Reserve
Along the Maitai River
One of the historic homes
I also visited both the Nelson Provincial Museum, located downtown, and the Founders Heritage Park, a replica historic village containing many of the old 1800s buildings, and artifacts, of Nelson, as well as a number of displays and artisans.
Street in Founders Heritage Park
One of the artifacts
One day I took the local bus to a nearby community, Richmond, partly to see how easy it is to get around using public transportation. As in other places, it's not difficult, as long as you plan your trip, as the buses don't run very frequently. A highlight of that outing was going to the PICs peanut butter factory. (I know, I need to get a life.) But this PB is the pride of NZ; they even give factory tours!! Sadly, I was there at the wrong time for the tour, although I did get to have tastings. It's very good, and very natural, but really is no better than our very own PB produced by YUM Bakery. After my PB experience I met another friend of my friend Jan, the third this trip!!
This morning, my last one in NZ, I went to the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) market, which is located in a parking lot downtown. It's a very large market, with both food and some excellent crafts.
I am no longer in NZ. Late this afternoon (March 28 here) I boarded a plane from Nelson to Auckland. Nelson's airport is a treat. It's like going back in time 50 years. One gate, no security, walking out to the airplane. Love it!!
I and am now on the flight from Auckland to Vancouver. I'll spend the day in Vancouver with cousins I haven't seen in ages before continuing home. I am looking forward to seeing wee, wonderful Wolfville again, and friends I haven't seen in far too long.
The list of things I have loved about NZ would fill a book. I hope my pictures have done a better job of illustrating that than my words ever could. My pictures don't tell you how friendly people here are however. Staying at Airbnbs (10 in total) made such a difference. They allowed me to spend time with kiwis, and not just tourists. And to find out just how proud they are of their country. Who can blame them??
I will miss hearing some of the typical kiwi expressions and lingo: mate, no worries, jandals (flip-flops to us). One expression I don't think I mentioned before which I heard only in relation to the earthquake in Christchurch, as many people had to fashion their own: longdrop is the word kiwis use for the internal workings of an outhouse. Totally descriptive!
Pet peeves? Just two. One, the fact that literally all of their wonderful cafes close at 4:00. So if you do want a coffee after 4:00, and no food, McCafe is pretty much your only option. And if you want a plain old perked coffee you might as well go home and make it yourself, as all the ones available in the cafes are expresso based. I'd feel like a real hick asking for a perked coffee.
And the second thing is the road signs, or more specifically the lack of them. They are there most of the time, except it seems when you most need them. Also, because so many of the towns and cities are built on and around mountains, roads often twist and turn, and it is not uncommon to find 4 or 5 streets meeting at one intersection. Figuring out which sign belongs to which street can leave you standing there looking perplexed for quite some time.
But those things are amusing rather than anything else, and so very much a part of the country, one just wants to smile. As they do about everything else kiwi.
What a winter! I can't quite believe it is over. I've put together the route I did when I was there, Twenty stops in total, and it looks like this:
Addendum: I arrived back home early afternoon on March 29, after 4 flights. To mounds of snow! Two week later my front lawn still looked like this. But I was lucky. I was away having the winter of a lifetime while folks at home were also having one, but in a very different way!
