Getting to Nelson- First South Island Stop

There had been a bit of rain in the early morning of Friday February 15, just prior to us heading out from Wellington.  The day was mainly cloudy and it was a bit cool.  We have been lucky in that the only semi-bad weather we have had on the trip has been for parts of our travel days.

We had a real adventure getting to our next destination - Nelson, on the South Island.  Alain misunderstood the Inter-City bus itinerary instructions and thought we were catching a shuttle bus from the Railway Station that would take us onto the ferry.  He missed the detail that we were to catch the shuttle bus 50 minutes before the ferry departure and that in fact it would only take us to the Ferry Terminal where we had to check in.  Long story short-- we missed the shuttle and took a taxi to the Ferry Terminal from the Railway Station- arriving about 5 minutes after they had closed the gangways for the 9:00 a.m. ferry crossing.  We were able to reschedule a sailing on the 2:45 p.m. ferry which would arrive in Picton at 6:00 p.m.  Unfortunately, the bus from Picton to Nelson, which leaves at 6:15 p.m. was sold out and there was no later bus.  Alain reluctantly booked a car rental (at an exorbitant price).

The Ferry terminal was almost deserted after the 9:00 a.m. ferry left and we chatted to the nice staff who were trying to be helpful about our dilemma.  A ferry worker going off shift offered us a ride back into town.  Only in NZ!!!  He dropped us near the Beehive and we wandered along the waterfront and then had a very nice lunch at Prefab, where we had been a few days before.

We passed swimmers out on the water

Finishing their swim

We walked back to the Railway Station and caught the 1: 55 p.m. shuttle bus to the Ferry Terminal.  As we were boarding, staff greeted everyone and the Director of Customer Services (Peter) asked me how my day was going.  I answered "not particularly well" and told him how we had missed the earlier Ferry, that the bus to Nelson was full, and that we were not happy having to rent a car.

Peter offered to help- he first checked with Inter-city Bus (yep, the bus was sold out) but he ended up arranging a ride with a guy who runs a shuttle service (usually taking people with mobility issues to vineyards), but who also does longer shuttles on the side.  While still expensive, it was less money than renting a car and it was much less stressful for Alain.

The crossing was incredibly smooth (Cook Strait can often be very turbulent).  It started out cloudy, but became sunny as we got closer to Picton, our landing spot and Gateway to the South Island.  The crossing took about 3 1/4 hours.  It went by very fast as there is WIFI on the boat and there are incredible views.
  

Still cloudy

The sun and beautiful views going through Queen Charlotte Sound/Tōtaranui as we neared Picton

Just breathtaking

An isolated house

Panorama

Lots of passengers checking out the view

Everyone on deck 

Some views reminded us of BC

A woman from Toronto just starting her Masters in Auckland took this picture

Peter, the Director of Customer Services, disembarked with us and introduced us to Matt, our shuttle driver.

Peter in his sheep hat bidding passengers farewell

Matt drove us to Nelson which took about two hours.  He took us on the scenic Marlborough winery route. We passed through large vineyards, with hardly a soul in sight.  The grapes look good (harvest is in late April).

Driving by vineyards

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We stopped at Cloudy Bay for an obligatory photo.

Outside Cloudy Bay

All quiet at about 7:15 p.m.

Cloudy Bay vines

Sign at their Cellar Door

Drove by No1 Family Estate

The highway was deserted and the scenery gorgeous-- it got sunnier as we headed to Nelson

The light was lovely in the evening

More scenery from the Van

We drove through the small town of Havelock, passing Mills Bay mussels

A nice small harbour

Beautiful white cloud over the hills

We passed a large area of clear cutting.  There are quite a few pine plantations in this area.  They get cut down every 20 years and the logs are mostly destined for China.

Clear cutting New Zealand style

Another view

We arrived at our Airbnb around 8:30 p.m.  We have quite a large studio apartment on the main floor of a house.  It is very well equipped and clean.  There is a large bedroom space and a large bathroom.  It has a small outside table which we can use.  We are about a 10 minute walk from the main part of town.

View of kitchen area

We have the main level 

Outside table

We did some unpacking and then wandered into town.  Most of the restaurants were closed by 9:30, but we found a Thai restaurant that was still quite busy, as there was a birthday celebration at a large table.  The food was fine and we were hungry.

Alain with his cashew chicken

A very momentous day that ended well, with a scenic trip through vineyards and hills to Nelson, where we will be for four nights.

Saturday February 16 was a picture perfect day, though it became cloudy late in the day.

Outside of our studio in the daylight

View up the street we are staying on

Our destination was the Nelson Market which operates on Saturdays from 8:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.  It has fresh produce, smoked fish, cheeses and other food products along with quality arts and crafts and jewellery.  We got there around 10:45 a.m.  It was full of people- clearly a weekly event for the community.

Very busy market

We bought some gorgeous smoked kingfish from this vendor

We bought a bag of plums -- the farmer told us the South Island gets better and better as one goes further south

We bought delicious sheep cheese from Thorvald cheese- hand crafted sheep milk cheese and yogurt.

There was a small climate change demonstration at the market.

Reading a list of demands

Asking for climate justice

We bought a bag of delicious Doris plums.  There are a number of varieties--- we had never heard of Doris or Luisa before, but they are yummy.

Plums

Pic Peanut butter made locally-- we still have a jar of Fix and Fogg from Wellington

After stocking up on fruits and veg and other treats, we stopped for a coffee at Yaza! Café.

So nice sitting outside in February

One of the main streets with Valentine's Day posters

We walked down a pedestrian street and saw the bell of the large Cathedral on the hill.  We would check this out later.

Looking up stairs leading to a large Cathedral on a hill

Outdoor dance classes

We went to the I-Site located not too far from the Saturday market and booked some tour tickets for the next two days (more info in the next blogs).  We then went back to our studio to drop the food off and have some lunch.

After lunch, we walked up the hill to see the Cathedral located in a beautiful park.

Alain and some lovely palm trees on the hill

Christ Church Cathedral- With a population of only 5000 in 1858, Nelson became a Cathedral city. The present building was started in 1925 and took 40 years to complete.

Bell at back of Cathedral

We walked down the hill into town and then headed out to the Suter Art Gallery, the public art gallery for the Nelson region.  The Suter also has a theatre, gift shop and café.  Entry is free.  The Gallery is a memorial to the second Bishop of Nelson, Andrew Burn Suter (1830-1895).

Outside of Suter Gallery-- new and old sections

There was an excellent exhibit entitled Alan Pearson: Master of Grey. It featured the work of Alan Pearson who is now 90.  Although he is now resident in Australia, he developed his career as an artist in New Zealand (with time spent in Italy and Great Britain).  He works in an expressionist manner, and is arguably New Zealand's leading portraitist.  His self-portraits are very strong.  The title of the exhibit, Master of Grey, refered to remarks made about his painting- that he is a master of many and varied shades of grey.

Last Self Portrait at 88- 2016 (painted 7 years after being diagnosed with macular degeneration)

Self Portrait at the Easel, London 1963

Nelly Aged 11 Steps Out 1996-97-- the Artist's daughter

Nellie 2016 (a confident woman 20 years after the earlier painting)

Herne Bay Couple 1978-- first prize winner in the 1978 National Bank of New Zealand Portrait Award ( portrait of Ann and John Oliver and their pug dog)

After our visit to the Gallery, we wandered some more and returned to an interesting street sign we had seen just before walking up the hill to the Cathedral.  The sign read: Synagogue Lane (Private Way), formerly Church Lane.  There was a memorial plaque across the road from the sign.

Plague marking the location of the Beth Israel Synagogue that existed from 1869-1895 as a place of worship. The Synagogue was demolished in 1917.

We headed back to the studio and had a lovely salad with fresh corn, tomatoes and the smoked fish we had bought in the market.  We finally had the opportunity to drink some of the bottle of the 2015 Merlot we had bought at the Church Road winery outside of Napier.  It was excellent-a real treat.

Church Road Merlot 2015- so good!

After dinner, we met the other host of our Airbnb.  Nicola had been away on a short kayak trip with a friend.   She let us do a laundry and then took us for a drive up to the high point of land above Nelson.  There is a lookout that gives a fantastic view of the Tasman Sea.

View from the height of land

View of the Boulder Bank- an unusual naturally formed landform that is 13 kilometres long.

View the other way of Tahunanui Beach

Distance wheel from look-out

Another view looking into town

We were really pleased to have a chance to see the beautiful homes up in the cliffs and to drive along the waterfront.  All our Airbnb hosts have gone out of their way to be helpful.  The evening drive gave us a sense of the expanse and beauty of Nelson.  Nicola told us that the greater Nelson area now has a population of around 80,000, but folks still know each other.  

Another wonderful summer day of our adventure.