Blogs from Nelson Region, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

Oamaru to Nelson and homeward bound Our hotel in Oamaru turned out to be a lovely Victorian white stone building that echoed the town’s historical importance. We sat in 2 leather high-backed winged chairs by the fire and felt very grand. Oamaru was an important port in days of yore and was the centre of the world’s provision of frozen lamb….until the railway made the journey to Picton and then Wellington shorter than by sea and the importance of Oamaru dwindled. It's now deemed to be the home of steampunk and we have yet to discover what that actually means. Quite a lot of odd murals and statues and figures dressed in black, but we’re still none the wiser. We travelled northwards along the pacific road to Christchurch, where we visited the botanic gardens and revisited ... read more

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas … This morning Tracey helped Robin and Sandra decorate their Christmas tree and was given the honour of placing the star on top. It was also deemed appropriate that an Australian should put the Christmas kangaroo and the Christmas emu on the tree! After lunch we drove into Nelson to take a look at historic South Street. Originally settled in the 1860s, South Street is the oldest fully preserved street in New Zealand that people actually live in. The street features cobblestone paths, quaint Victorian cottages, lantern-style streetlights, planter boxes and white picket fences. It was certainly very picturesque. Our next stop was Christ Church Cathedral, an Anglican cathedral located on Trafalgar Square in Nelson. There has been a church on this site since 1887, but construction of ... read more

A busier day today, there’s been too much lazing around! This morning Sandra and I went to the Sunday market at Gardens of the World, a beautiful venue in itself on such a glorious day. Thinking that the market started at 9.00am we left home about 9.30am and were shocked when we drove straight into the car park at 9.45am where there were plenty of car spots to choose from. For a moment Sandra was worried that she had the day wrong, but it turned out it was only the start time that was wrong … with the market due to commence trading at 10.00am! What a fortuitous mistake, though, it meant that we were able to get close to all the stalls without having to jostle around amongst loads of other shoppers. Some of the ... read more

The boys were going to go fishing this morning, but it was too windy so … another lazy day was had by all. We ventured out briefly to the collection of shops on McShane Road near the highway. There was a lovely craft shop with loads of gorgeous wool and knitting patterns, but I managed to resist buying anything. I already have a knitting project to finish (two actually!) AND yarn that I purchased during the last lockdown that I haven’t even started on yet … There are some lovely gourmet food shops at this complex so Robin and Sandra stocked up on a few of their faves. Before returning home we called in at the Eyebright Country Store. A year round gift emporium it specializes in all things Christmassy at this time of the year. ... read more

Bonjour à tous, J'ai une nouvelle compagne, la pluie, et je crains de l'avoir jusqu'à la fin de mon périple. Hier vers 18H30 je suis retourné aux baraques à langoustes, mais bien évidemment avec la pluie il n'y avait plus personne. Peut être même sans la pluie!. Un peu avant en passant j'avais vu un restaurant, une grosse bâtisse en pierre, avec pas mal de voitures devant. Je m'y suis arrêté, déjà pour voir le menu, qui me convenait, et la clientèle à l'intérieur totalement locale. Le genre d'établissement bistro - restaurant de nos campagnes. (il y quelques années). La grande blonde qui m'accueille, 20 ans, gracieuse comme une porte de prison, me trouve une table malgré que se soit pratiquement plein. (70-80 couverts), ayant compris, que je n'étais pas du coin c'est le patron qui ... read more