Mar.24/16: Nelson (WOW)

You might think that WOW is my reaction to to this country, and city, or the acronym for Women of Wolfville or Women on Wheels, but it is none of those. WOW in this case is the World of Wearable Art Museum, which, bizzarly enough, also includes a section on Classic Cars. It is one of the must-sees in this area. A must-see I was not all that interested in seeing, until I went. That will teach me!

Every year since 1987, submissions of wearable art have come from around the world, and the finalists have been included in an annual show. It is an extravaganza, held every spring, first in Nelson, and for some years now, in Wellington. The permanent home of the collection is the museum in Nelson, which opened in 2001.

Here are a few of the wearable art designs that most impressed me.

A challenge to wear!

Yes, this is wearable although

perhaps not on its own!

The classic car section I was going to give a miss. Silly me! It too was most impressive. The collection dates back to the early 1900s, and is one of the largest private collections in Australasia. Here's just a few of the cars in the collection.

An early Chevrolet

Messerschmitt, 3 wheels, late 1950s, early 60s

Cord, mid 1930s

Mar. 22/16: Abel Tasman Park

Last year when I was in New Zealand I did a day hike (or tramp as they call it here) on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. It was one of the highlights of my trip (although there were so many) so I've long been planning to return and do another bit of the track. Today was the day.

The Track is one of New Zealand's nine Great Walks, and, in total, is 60 kilometres. To walk the whole thing takes 3-5 days. There are huts along the route, and also campsites.  The stretch I did today is just over 12 km. and is said to take 4 hours. It can easily be done in less. I passed a few young women jogging; 4 hours would take them through a good deal of the walk's entire length.

On the bus to the park I learned that the Abel Tasman is the country's smallest park, but also the most visited. That is likely because it contains the only Great Walk that goes along the coast, if I am not mistaken, and the track itself is incredibly well groomed. It's rated as intermediate but is really quite an easy walk. The trail is so smooth I suspect the walk could be done in flipflops, or jandals as they are called here.

The park is named after Abel Tasman, a Dutch explorer who discovered New Zealand, and Tasmania, in 1642. I believe they were actually in search of riches, but that they did not find.  

The stretch I did today did not seem quite as spectacular as the one I did last year, but that may be because the skies were not quite so blue, and because I'm becoming accustomed to this incredibly beautiful country. But as you'll see from the images below, it was pretty stunning.

A map of the route I did today

The walk begins! My destination was Marahau.

Not bad, eh?

Mar. 21/16: Nelson (the latest events)

This is a small city but there is no shortage of things to do. This past weekend there was something happening each day.

MARCHFEST: On Saturday was Marchfest, again at Founders Park, the venue that is only 5 minutes from me. I'm afraid I once again have no pictures (I hardly ever think about taking any these days) so I will have to try to create one with words. Founders is a heritage village so picture a wee town of the 1800s built around a central grassy area, where the events take place. Marchfest is a beerfest, or as they call it, the Festival of Ferment. But for those not so fond of beer there was also wine, and cider. Of course it was also about food and music. Things got underway about noon and ended just before 10 pm, with fireworks. Even though this was an event built around booze I saw no evidence at all of any rowdiness. This event, like so many others here, was very kid friendly. There was an area devoted to keeping the wee folk entertained, so it felt very much like a family affair. With every type of ethnic food you could possibly want. The music was a bit too loud and raucous for me, but clearly people there loved it; most of them were up and dancing. Kiwis are a dancing lot!

Marchfest is a celebration of craft beer, which is as big here as at home. Fourteen breweries took part, each offering one of their beers. I had a taster of the two dark beers, both good. But there was a little of everything.

RACE UNITY DAY: Sunday I happened quite by chance on Race Unity Day, sponsored by the Nelson Multi-cultural Council and held in a park on the other side of the city. There was a line-up of entertainment, and food, from around the world. If you can blow up this picture, you'll get an idea of how many ethnic groups were represented.

Apparently one in four people in this area was born overseas. You need only listen to the voices of  the people on the streets to get a sense of that. Of course many are tourists, but the number of different accents and languages you hear is most impressive. This might be New Zealand, and far removed from the rest of the world, but there is something/someone here from pretty much everywhere, or so it seems.

FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL: One example of this is the French Film Festival, which travels to different major centres in New Zealand,and just yesterday finished a 10 day run in Nelson. It included over 30 films. I saw three (couldn't bring myself to spend more time inside). My favourite was the only (french) Canadian film on offer, My Internship in Canada. A riot. And it had just been shown in Wolfville at Fundy Film! A satire, but it felt all too real. See it if you can, and haven't!

Mar. 11/16: Nelson (how things get done)

This is a post with not a single picture. Sorry! But I thought it might be interesting to note some of the ways things here are different (or not) than at home. So here it is:

MAIL DELIVERY: We do get home delivery here in Nelson. Not sure if that is true everywhere in the country. Mail is delivered about three times a week. Surely that should be enough for us back in Canada. Perhaps if they had tried that initially we would not be in the messy situation we now are. But what I love about mail delivery here is that it is done on a bicycle. Of course that is possible in a small city like Nelson, where traffic is not a big issue, and seriously cold weather is not a concern.

RECYCLING: It's certainly done here. And is very much encouraged. Glass one week and other recyclables the other week. But all in all I think we in Wolfville are ahead on the recycling front, at least in terms of the things that can be recycled. Here styrofoam is not recyclable, nor are plastic bags, egg cartons, or tetrapacks. Perhaps we only think they are recycled at home!

GARBAGE: Here only one type of garbage bag is permissible, and the cost of collection is paid from the cost of these bags ($2.50 each). So this is the method of encouraging people to generate less garbage.

BUYING/SELLING HOMES: Here real estate agents are used only by sellers. As a buyer you are on your own. So you need to do all your homework to make sure the price you are offering is reasonable and the house is in proper repair. And buying a house here seems to me complicated. In only a portion of cases is there an asking price. The more expensive/desirable homes are often sold by auction, or by negotiation, without an advertised price. Often too I have seen sale posters saying "deadline sale".  I assume that means bids are taken up to a specific date. I hear often about the high cost of homes in Auckland. But they are not given away in other places either. I reckon to buy even a modest home in Nelson would cost at least $500,000. (All this in no way means I have any interest in buying a house here.)

RADIO: The equivalent to CBC Radio 1 here is Radio NZ National. Not bad. Like at home, no advertising, that I have heard. There is no local programming, so weather, for example, when it is presented, is done for all of New Zealand.

BUYING BY CREDIT/DEBIT:  Here the credit/debit machines all operate the same way. Imagine that!! You indicate whether you are using credit or debit, then enter your PIN. Presto. How simple is that! It's called EFTPOS (electronic funds transfer at point of sale) and is used throughout New Zealand. EFTPOS is owned by the NZ banks, but actually originated in the US, in 1981. I had never heard of it.

That's it for now!

Mar. 6-8/16: Golden Bay

Many people have told me that to leave this part of New Zealand without seeing  Golden Bay would be a mistake. So here I am.

Nelson is in the middle of the top of the south island and Golden Bay is to the west of Nelson, at the north west of the south island. Here's what it looks like. Nelson is off the bottom right of the map.

My destination  was Farewell Spit, a 35 km. spit of sand, for the most part. It is a  nature reserve and bird sanctuary, and highly protected. The first 4 km. of the spit  are open to the public  but the only way  you can see the rest is to take a tour  with Farewell Spit Eco  Tours. I'm guessing that restricts it to not more than about 100 people every day. I had booked the tour in advance, which meant taking the three hour bus trip to Collingwood, the nearest community, and the starting point of the tour.

Collingwood is a wee spot; in comparison  Wolville would  be a big city. But big enough to have a fine little cafe, and one restaurant for an evening meal. Here's the cafe (with  the red roof) and in the foreground the place I stayed the first night.

Breakfast at the cafe: A potato  rosti, 

with avocado and smoked salmon. Delicious.  

Tour day was a perfect one. Our first stop was at Puponga, Cape Farewell, the most northly point on the south  island. And this is what I saw:

Pretty spectacular. But that was just the beginning. From there we traveled  along the spit, where we saw seals, oystercathers, gannets  and most interestingly for me, godwits. These birds are in New Zealand for about six months, fattening up for their trip to Alaska to breed. It has only  recently been  confirmed  that they make this trip with only one stop on the way to Alaska, and none on the return journey. Over 11,000 km. in 8 or 9 days! Unfortunately I could not get  their  picture,  but you are likely better off to Google godwit.

Near  the end of the spit, we stopped at the lighthouse, which was  unfortunately undergoing a refurbishment, and was all wrapped up. It dates ftom the 1890s and was manned for about 90 years.

Lighthouse in the background

On the return  journey we  stopped to climb one of the sand dunes, and slide  down it. It felt like being in a desert, or what I imagine it must feel like. Apparently  sand is accumulating on the spit, so it is actually getting wider.

The dunes. The waves are from the

wind, which  was very strong!

I'm now on the way back to Nelson but decided to stop for another day in Takaka (love the Maori names), a community known  for its artists and craftspeople, and alternative lifestyle. It reminds me a bit of Wolfville. Here are a few shots taken along the main street.

Lots happenin' in Golden Bay!