The centre of Nelson is based around the Cathedral with a war memorial alongside it. It’s a favourite for visitors.
There are also a few art galleries scattered about town, the Suter being one of the best ones.
There are vineyards up this way as well. We had lunch at Fossil Ridge Winery, which unfortunately now has closed down due to COVID-19.
Our next stop was Nelson. Nelson is a small city of 53,500 at the top of the South Island. It is said to be the sunniest city in all of NZ!
It wasn’t quite sunny when we arrived. It’s certainly a very green city with the bush right behind the suburban streets.
Since the city was established back in 1841, it has a mix of modern and historical buildings in the town centre.
I liked these old weatherboard houses, very typical of New Zealand because of the availability of good building timbers in the past. Reminds me of the old Queenslanders.
The next morning we took one last look at our vineyard retreat in Renwick.
We then drove up the Wairau Valley, over 90km – and incredibly, most of that way was past vineyards. No wonder the Marlborough region produces so much wine. At the end of the drive were the Nelson Lakes at the foot of the mountains.
We visited Lake Rotoiti, although there are two of them. These mountains form the start of the Southern Alps, which run 500km down the spine of the South Island.
Strange to see sea-birds here, but the lake is only 70km or so from the sea.
Havelock’s claim to fame are its mussels, of the molluscular kind.
So we ventured to its most famed eatery, the Mussel Pot.
And partook in some molluscular gastronomy. And lovely mussels they were too – so fresh and succulent.
The drive from Picton to Havelock via Queen Charlotte Drive isn’t for the faint hearted. It takes in a very narrow and twisty road (a Kiwi special, you might say) that passes by many a picturesque viewpoint and down into quiet little bays.
We also stopped to take a stroll in the Kiwi bush.
Eventually, we emerged from the bush to face the next sizeable town in the region, Havelock.
Much of the shopping area looked as if it was built in the 1960’s and not too interesting to look at, but just outside there were a few more vintage-y buildings.
It was much nicer closer to the water at the Memorial Park.
Everyone was enjoying the sunshine.
Next, we visited the town of Picton. It is located deep in the Marlborough Sounds and has a deep harbour.
Because of its sheltered harbour and close proximity to the capital Wellington (just 65km to the north-east, across the Cook Strait), it is a busier town than most. It is the shipping, rail and road gateway to the South Island. In fact, here comes the Inter-Island ferry now.
It fits cars as well as people, but just a warning that people with less than cast-iron stomachs should be wary about getting on-board. Like the Spirit of Tasmania ferry between Melbourne and Devonport, crossing the Cook Strait is a rough business. But luckily for those crossing from Wellington to Picton (or vice-versa) the rough bit is only 45 minutes long. That’s 45 minutes too long for me but others might think otherwise.
Being recreational wine enthusiasts, our next destination was the wine mecca of Marlborough, a region located at the north-east end of the South Island.
We stayed in a delightful holiday cottage called Andahlane Cottage.
It’s set in the vineyards just out of the small town of Renwick.
Marlborough is a bit like the Hunter Valley on steroids. The vineyards cover an area 5 times the size of the Hunter Valley, hence there are dozens of cellar doors to potentially visit. The wines can also be over-the-top (I think almost everyone has tasted a fruit-bowl-like Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc sometime in their life) but we were interested in tasting the wines of the smaller, artisanal producers.
But that’s for another day.
After lunch, we drove around to Point Kean, to the south side of town. The weather was perfect for early December (i.e. Early summer).
Around the point, we passed a remnant of an old homestead. I’m guessing the sea level has risen quite a bit since it was first built.
And it we didn’t have to go far to see our first seal. These are all New Zealand fur seals, and can be found on rocky shores throughout mainland New Zealand, the Chatham Islands, and the sub-Antarctic islands, as well as parts of Australia.
These seals were pretty used to humans, and other animals too, it seems.
Kaikoura was a town that was clearly still recovering from its recent disaster. But Kiwis do have lots of experience with natural disasters, so they seem to just get on with it so that things can get back to ‘normal’.
This area has been cleaned up and demountables and other quick building solutions were brought in to act as shops.
We certainly found good fish and chips there for lunch.
Static and Silence 