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Published: February 28th 2006
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The mystery of twilight in the Cut
The evening that we had the chateaubriand was the same night that we took this photo. This was the view from the Waterfront bar where we ate. Well looky here - can you believe that we've been on the road for so long that we've managed to clock up 50 blogs? Nuts coconuts! But y'know - this old blog thing is a bit on the strange side. There's a definite voyeuristic quality attached to it in that all you lovely readers can see what we've been up to - photo's and all - yet we don't quite know who's been tuning in to each 'episode' as it were. Sure, we can see who's subscribed however, outwith the the stats on our home page (currently sitting at about 7850 hits) and email comms etc, we have little clues about who's making up our numbers. So....... we were thinking....just for this particular special edition..... how's about we go INTERACTIVE? Us Eggs are hoping that if you are reading this, that you might do us a little comment at the bottom of this page, maybe giving your name, where you are while reading, and the date of view. That way we can get an idea of whats going on out there beyond the screen. We'd love it if you would.
So anyways - enough of the chit chat - here's
the latest Egg news.............
We just left Nelson today heading back to Christchurch in the hope of finalising the transaction malarky relating to the Beryl purchase. We have to say that our bank has been as much use as a chocolate teapot in making the process slick for us to transfer cash to New Zealand. To contradict their catchphrase - they really 'haven't made it happen'. We won't go into the details, but know this - a strong worded feedback email will be winging its way through cyber space before too long. On another, more positive note, we were only supposed to be in Nelson for 4 nights but we really liked the vibe, and found a great place to stay, therefore we hung around for an extra week. We can't think of anyone we know who wouldn't love Nelson. Its on the sea, has a tip top chilled out arty farty town centre, smashing bars and restaurants (remember the topper curry as mentioned in last blog?) and is just generally magic. Not to mention exceptionally pretty, with bright sweet smelling flower baskets lining every street in the central area.
The sailing course we did was very good.
As you all probably know, it's essentially Alan's bag, however we both really got into it from the word 'Go' and found it totally enjoyable, somewhat addictive, exciting and actually not that simple. The course was called 'Sailing Shoes' and is a precursor to the Competent Crew course that we are planning on doing in March. Its designed to give a flavour of what's to come, get you familiar with the general terminologies, give you a feel of what it's like out on a yacht and let you have a go at most activities, including; steering at speed, using an outboard motor, parking up, knot tying (we are crap at knots), anchoring, changing head sails and so on. Thoroughly interesting it all is too. The best fun was when we were cruising along at speed out at sea. Whoever is on the tiller (steering device) determines how fast the yacht goes depending on how efficient one can get the sails to operate. We now have an excellent appreciation of how easy it would be to develop a competitive spirit at this sport, buy a small boat, and enter oneself into races. If you are in Nelson and want to try
Our Shibui patio
Note the bottle of champers - placed so as to enjoy in the spa bath. Ahh, such luxury! sailing lessons, then see the photos below for the web page details of the school we used. The guy who gave us lessons was called Pic, and he was very professional and patient, and a good laugh too. Pic also makes bezzy sannies for your lunch on board. Come to think of it, anyone reading this and trying to plan a team day at work - note that this would be a really good thing to do as you need to be alert and work together to a reasonable degree while not getting in each other's way. Plus its TOP funstones. It should be easy enough to arrange in the UK too.
BEST BACKPACKER SPOT IN NELSON ALERT: We found this place called Shibui which is about 2 mins drive, and 20 mins walk from the absolute centre of Nelson. The name Shibui is actually Japanese, meaning 'beyond beautiful' and generally the place is OK with your usual rooms and dorms, however there is a special Thai style hut that they have called 'The Love Hut' and it is the best value, most relaxing place we have stayed at yet. For 25 British pounds a night ($70 NZ), you
get your own wooden hut with garden and 2 patio areas, plus your own, very private, outdoor spa bath and sun lounge area. Inside the hut you have a gorgeous dark wood 4 poster bed, lovely floaty cotton drapes, a double door to the patio, plus fridge, TV and video (with a decent selection of vids to watch), CD player, toaster and magazines etc. Here's the best bit - if you book for 4 nights or more, then the lovely owner 'Henrietta' gives you a bottle of champagne too. Now tell us that isn't the best deal you have heard of yet?
Once we'd finished our sailing course we could relax and investigate the Nelson area. It's on the coast therefore there are lots of seaside things to do, however it's a stone throw to the countryside too, and we enjoyed some leisurely scenic drives with unusually familiar views (looks a bit like Mull in Scotland). While we were there we visited a brilliant Saturday market in the centre which sells luscious locally grown fruit and veg and other interesting produce and crafts. We tasted something quite different when sampling a champagne made purely from honey - no grapes
3D freize of the first Settlers
The cathedral was only finished being built in the 1970's and it has been dedicated to the memory of the first settlers. involved in the proccess at all. The aroma and taste was refreshing and soft and not overbearingly 'honey-fied'. We'd have bought some if we didnt already have 2 bottles kindly donated by Shibui. There was also a Gypsy Fair being held nearby in a place called Richmond. We went along to see what it was all about and it turned out to be more of a New Age Travellers marketplace affair. Shaz had her tarot cards read anyway for a tenner and was assured that the number 13 (which has been popping up all ower the place) was more likely to be relating to the addition of 1 and 3 making 4. The number 4 apparently is linked to the tarot with a meaning of 'everything coming together' Kathleen the tarot lady told Shaz that this was fitting in very snugly with her reading and that in the year to come Shaz would be making a lot of developments towards creating something new relating to her career. Sounds interesting does it not?! MInd you - we'd have preferred to hear of impending lottery wins.
Some other things we've enjoyed in Nelson:
* Visiting the ring maker who created the
rings for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. See piccies below.
*Lovely walks and coffees in town especially in a place called ' Lambrettas' which has various colourful and very cool real mopeds hung up on the walls inside.
*Watching Memoirs of a Geisha at the cinema
*Alan got some new sunnies
*Went for dinner at Pic's house (Sailing teacher) and his bless 10 yer old son entertained us for hours on end with fantastic card tricks and levitation. We were telling him about how good a magician Jerry Sadowitz is until we rememberd that Jerry is a foul mouthed bandit .... and we promptly shut up.
Shaz rediscovered the joy of second hand stores and made some wonderful purchases of 2 new shirts all for 3 quid.
* Tried Chateaubriand for the first time in a place called the 'Waterfront bar'. It was good, but we think that Alan's mum Sheena makes a better roast beef.
So folks, that's it for this special anniversary update - hope you have enjoyed it, and remember to give us some comments on this one (or we'll come round in the dark of the night and put a bat up your
nightdress). Hopefully by the next blog update we will have finally got our hands on that gorgeous campervan Beryl!!!!
C-Ya
A&S. xx
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Steven_RW
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28th Feb, sunny morning at Gogarburn RBS whq. Always read them. The photos are getting better and better. Some quality photography going on :) Cheers RW