Blogs from Nelson Region, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 2

Founders Heritage Park was set up largely by community effort via Founders Inc. 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. Founders Heritage Park is a replica historic village containing many of the old historic buildings and artefacts of Nelson. Nelsonians created this historic townscape featuring real and replica buildings, much as they were in colonial days of the 19th century. With Patrick & Ellie we had a glimpse of life as it was in Nelson in the 1880s The collection shows Nelson’s history and development from its earliest ... read more

Opouštíme největrnější místo Nového Zélandu, Wellington. Vítr jsme pocítili včera i dnes. Čeká nás 3,5hodinová plavba trajektem na jižní ostrov. Naloďujeme se i s autem, jelikož to trajekt Interislander, který má 10 poschodí, umožňuje. Z nejvyšší paluby je rozhodně nejhezčí výhled, jinak loď poskytuje veškeré služby včetně wi-fi připojení nebo blicí pytlíky zdarma :-). V průběhu plavby přichází hlášení, že na levoboku lze spatřit velryby, bohužel jsem neměla to štěstí, abych je alespoň letmo zahlédla. Snad někdy příště. Když jsme se blížili do přístavu Picton, otevřelo se před námi členité pobřeží. Všechny loďky okolo vypadaly jako hračky na pískovišti. Vše bylo jako malované. Dorazili jsme na úplně odlišnou část Zélandu, kde jediné, co prozatím zůstalo stejné, je počasí, opravdu velmi horké počasí. Snad to tedy alespoň odradí "sandflies" (písečné mouchy), před nimiž nás průvodkyně P... read more

We arrived in Nelson and walked to our hostel. By the time we put our bags down, it was about 4.30pm and we didn’t have enough time to go for a walk before meeting our American friends Matt and Julian for my birthday dinner. We went to a nice pub and had cocktails/beers and dinner - including desserts (plus an additional free dessert I got as it was my birthday, that we all shared). On the next day, we were going for the craziest adventure of our trip! We got picked up at our hostel by Mike while Shaun was eating something that looked like chocolate bread but turned out to be something more like seaweed bread! Our driver was confused because he expected to pick up two additional people, so we waited for a bit ... read more

Queen Charlotte Drive, a steep, somewhat dangerous in parts, windy road from Picton to Havelock is a stunning drive and worth the time it takes. Meandering between stunning secluded bays of clear and vividly coloured water, the occasional pull in and view point to walk to, the journey discovers many a small town too. The 'largest' of which is Havelock, a tiny place with a marina full of yachts almost the same size as the the land that hosts the houses. Stopping in this sleepy place on a Saturday showed the town for its most quiet qualities. Fortunately only in requiring a dump station and gas refill our needs were both greeted and met by a lovely local lady, who also filled us in on the long hot summer and the sudden switch to frost bringing ... read more

This morning we set out with Robin and Sandra to take Nelson on his walk. We headed across the road and into Dellside Reserve which can be traversed via a number of tracks. We started out on the Jimmy Lee Creek Track along which we encountered a bird hide that has been set up for keen twitchers. We didn’t even have to take shelter in the bird hide to see a Tui. He was quite happily sitting on a tree adjacent to the bird hide singing for all the walkers who were out this morning. Before long we had some of the inquisitive fantails flitting around in the bush beside us. Unlike the Tui they wouldn’t sit still for a photograph, but we still managed to take a few shots of these cheeky little birds. At ... read more