Blogs from Nelson Region, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 5

Last night the plan for today was that Sandra would go to 'work' at the op shop and Robin would take Bernie out fishing in his boat. I was going to stay home and catch up on some blogging and take Charlie for a walk. Unfortunately the weather had other ideas and it was too windy for the boys to go out fishing. Sandra headed off just before 9.00am seeing as her plans were not affected by the wind! Robin decided that he and Charlie would take us out sightseeing to a couple of Charlie's favourite places. Our first destination was Tahunanui Back Beach. 'ReStore' is on the way so we stopped in there to check out a Christmas tree that had come into the shop that Sandra thought Robin might be interested in. The Christmas ... read more

This morning we popped down to the Richmond Mall because menswear was on sale at Farmer's (department store) and Sandra thought that Robin needed some new shorts. While Robin and Sandra went bargain hunting we had a bit of a look around the mall which is quite small compared with what we are used to at Westfield Fountain Gate or Northland. Our best find was the card shop having a half price sale on all greeting cards. I can't resist well-priced cards so I spent about NZ$20 on half a dozen very nice quality greeting cards. We had another very lazy afternoon in sunny Nelson. The weather has been much nicer since we crossed over to the South Island. Although it is a bit windy. We are being blamed for bringing the wind with us from ... read more

Today we needed to travel via Cook Strait to the South Island to get to Robin and Sandra's place in Nelson (Richmond). The strait was named after Captain James Cook, the first European to sail it's waters. After climbing a hill on Arapaoa Island in 1770 Captain Cook saw there was a sea passage from the Pacific Ocean to the Tasman Sea. Previous European explorer's had not determined that New Zealand was made up of two main islands rather than just one. Sandra emailed us on Monday to let us know that the ferry services had been cancelled following Sunday's earthquake. On Wednesday Bernie received a message from Interislander Ferries to say that the service on Friday would leave at 8.30am instead of 9.00am. We hadn't received any further updates so we assumed we would be ... read more

New Zealand after 6 months, still has that "new car" feel to it. It is still shiny and new. It has not lost its lustre or its wonder in the slightest. Everyday that the sun is out shining I feel this incredible draw to be out seeing things and experiencing all it has to offer. Also, those days that I do not make it out, and spend an average day inside doing domestic things, leaves me feeling guilty and hollow. What is it about this country that makes it so special? It could be the land, the people, the ocean, the ruggedness, the lack of crowds, the laid-back lifestyle, that powerful sun, those crystal blue waters or snow-capped mountains....I digress. The list could go on. I attempted to make a pros and cons list of living ... read more

Saturday morning and we are off to Collingwood for the Farewell Spit Tour. Arrived a little early and had a wander through town (that took 3 minutes!). Found a Lookout sign at the end of town and decided we had time to take a look. So up the hill we trek to only find when you leave the road the track was a little worse for wear, and probably not helped by recent heavy rain. Jandals are not the go if you want to do this track, it’s very uneven, slippery today and bits of gorse sticking out that may get you:). At the top the view were back towards the high ranges and not actually down on the Collingwood Township, river mouth and beach. Following the track further on in hope of a better view ... read more