Day 36 - Nelson, South Island, New Zealand


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Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Nelson Region » Nelson
December 24th 2013
Published: December 31st 2013
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Tuesday 24rd December, 2013. Nelson, South Island, New Zealand

Christmas Eve - and another travelling day. Today we are heading to Nelson, the third largest city on the South Island. We are not looking forward to another big city hostel as they are usually skanky - or at least the punters are! We drove straight there as we wanted to have the opportunity to look around and to get the supplies in for Christmas as we have been told everything will be shut. M wrote a list while we were driving.

We arrived and found the YH easily - the only problem was parking (there wasn't any free parking at all!). However our luck was in! After 5.00 the public car park around the corner would be free until boxing day! So we paid or 1 hour, checked in and unloaded and planned to return after 5.00 pm. Then to the supermarket where we purchased our supplies for Christmas. M plumped for filet steak, D for venison medallions. Christmas pud, mince pies, chocolates, cream, wine the lot. We stuck the cold stuff in the car fridge and off we went to the petrol station where D inquired what time they closed. We established that we could fill up on the way back to the YH no worries.

M had read the blurb and the weather was very iffy so we first went to Founders Heritage Park. This is a museum housing a number of groups of artifacts with historical themes, including transport. A short heritage railway line is also operated by the Nelson Railway Society which would rock D's boat. Several shops operate in the museum, selling bakery and other artisan foods, as well as locally- made arts & crafts. These shops are located in historic building which have been relocated and/or re-constructed here. It was set up largely by community effort in 1977 and opened to the public in 1986. The buildings it houses are a mix of donated original buildings and historic replicas constructed with the help of local companies. Most of the historic collections have been donated by Nelson residents.The ownership and management of the park transferred to Nelson City Council in 1995.

It is laid out like a small village with streets, the main one being Levien Way. We entered through Dr Bush's Windmill. The first top in Levien Way was the Goodman's Bakery This was closed as the building was not earthquake safe. This building is a replica of Thomas Goodman's bakery which stood on the High Street in Moteuka. He was an Englishman who emigrated to NZ from Nottingham.

Behind us was St Peter's Church. This building was originally located at Atawhai-Hira and was consecrated as St Peters-by-the Strand on 1st October 1874. It was moved to the park in 1981, and on 4th may 1985 was re-dedicated as Old St Peters.

Next we wandered along to the cobblers shop. This building was once an office at the Gas Works on Nelson Road. Inside there is a collection of cobblers tools and machines used in the last century. There were loads of pairs of old leather shoes and pride of place in the front window was a pair of dispatch riders boots used behind enemy lines during WW2.

Next was the General Store. Didn't get where this was relocated from but it was wonderful. It had packets, boxes and tins of all sorts of products from both our childhoods - none of which are available today. It also had a fascinating set of Computer Scales which computed the cost of the item once the rate was set and the weighing completed.

We continued down Levien Way until we arrived at the Fire Station. This is a replica of Nelson Volunteer Fire Brigade Engine House built in 1867. The Fire Brigade dates back to 1858 when a hand-pumped fire engine was purchased by the Liverpool and London Insurance Company and housed in a shed on Bridge Street. in 1866 the volunteers were getting a bit bored with the whole thing and no-one wanted to foot the bill to run the brigade (£250.00). On 7th August that year a
fire destroyed the Nelson Hotel and spread to all 4 corners of the intersection on which it stood. This became known as "The Great Fire". This awful fire resulted in the development and full funding of the Nelson Volunteer Fire Brigade.

It really was like taking a stroll back through time. At the end of Levien Avenue is the Yellow Chair Hospital. Although, like most of the buildings, there was a warning sign that they may not stay standing in an earthquake, we went inside. This building had been a cottage hospital before it ended up as the music block at Redwood College. It came to Founders Park in 1983. It was full of memorabilia from the last century, including a doctor's examining chair, various gruesome looking medical instruments and even an early x-ray machine. The first x-ray clinic was held in the early 1900's. Also inside the hospital there were some examples of early prosthetic limbs (wooden legs). There was an advert on the wall for Packer's Wooden legs - obviously a well known brand! Jabez Packer was a bit of an innovator. He started out life as a wood turner making bedposts and furniture and later turned his hand (excuse the pun) to making artificial limbs. He became renown in this field making limbs as light as 6 lbs (2.7 kg). Amputees would send him measurements and casts of their stumps and people would travel long distances for fittings. His later designs included rubber springs and buffers for smoother walking and hands with moveable fingers.

At the end of Levien Way we came to Baigent square. On one side of the square was the Motor Garage. The Nelson Vintage Car Club (NVCC) created this replica of a 1920's garage. It is now used as a classroom for tne NVCC for training on vintage motor vehicle maintenance.

Opposite the garage is the Crown Livery Stable. This building houses 2 horse drawn vehicles but most of them are motorized coaches/buses. The most interesting of these is the Ansair Flexible Clipper, built in 1952 which could seat 29 passengers. It was in service from 1952 to 1968 (longer than our Toyota Picnic!).

The last side of the square was occupied by the railway station. This was the former freight shed and was once located at Port Nelson. A train service runs from the park to the north end of Sovereign street (but not today). We took some photos of the waiting room and the platform.

we crossed the railway lines where they had a Bristol Aircraft called the Merchant Buccaneer. We climbed up the steps and went inside. This plane was a freight plane and was loaded through the nose. She landed in Nelson in 1986 and was stripped of her wings and tail and towed to Founders Park where she was reassembled. She was then one of only 4 Bristol Planes left in NZ. This was the end of a 33 year flying career with the Pakistani Air Force followed, by services to SAFE (Straits Air Freight Express) where she delivered airmail and inter-island freight in NZ. During her
career she flew 21,314 hours and landed 25,978 times.

We visited the Maritime Museum (most of which we had seen before) and the Port Museum. The Port Museum told the stories of the early emigrants from the UK. There was a fascinating movie and lots of memorabilia including rules of the ships that carried them to NZ and indeed, the rules for laborers emigrating in the first place. Free passage was offered to agricultural laborers, shepherds, boat builders, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, boot-makers, tailors, lime-burners and builders to name but a few. So long as they were of sound mind and good character! Just what you need to build a new colony!

We crossed back over the railway lines and took a look at a shed full of old farm and harvesting equipment before making our way to Rutherford Cottage. This is a three-quarter size replica of the Rutherford family cottage. Ernest Rutherford, born 1871, won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for splitting the atom. He was from Nelson. He is a big cheese round here because he got his 'K' in 1914 and his ashes are interred in Westminster Abbey close to the tombs of Isaac Newton and Lord Kelvin.

We finished up at the Founder Brewary after visiting the Granary. This is a micro-brewery which makes organic beer on the premises. We had to try some of course.

The weather was still dodgy but we continued with our plans and jumped back in the car and made our way to Horoirangi Beach & Nature Reserve which is south of the city. This is a well known surfing beach. It was very cold and windy and there was only one brave wet-suited person in the water. Every time they tried to paddle out to catch a wave they were blown back towards the shore. Not our idea of fun.

Then we drove on to Cable Bay which is the site of NZ's first overseas cable link which was opened 21st February 1876. There was a walkway but the weather was so rubbish M decided to stay in the car. D walked up to the viewpoint and took some pics. The rates for sending a cable were prohibitively expensive - to send a cable to London it was 10 shillings 6 old pence per WORD plus 9 shillings and 9 old pence had to be added for every ten works from NZ to Melbourne. (In 1876 that was a great deal of money!!) A truly expensive venture but you could communicate with the UK in a couple of days rather than a number of months. Perhaps more amazing is that the messages were transcribed at way stations on the route and some of the links were by overland telegraph lines e.g from Calcutta to Bombay. We were both amazed that if you were rich enough the technology was in place to be able to communicate in this way nearly 140 years ago.

We returned to the YH and had a lovely pork dinner. We are looking forward to Christmas Day tomorrow.


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