Nelson

More sunshine and another lovely drive along the north coast to Nelson. After a breakfast stop along the way we arrived in Nelson around 2pm. The old windscreen crack was getting longer so we decided to get it checked out in Nelson. (Remember this – on the way into Nelson we noticed a Mazda garage next door to the VW garage.) I went to the hire shop and told the guy of our problem. He said “no worries mate” like they do and made a call and then told me take the car round to get a new windscreen. Whilst he was waiting for a reply I said we had seen the Mazda garage on the way in. He put the phone down and said get round with your car now and they will do it today, it’s next door to VW (remember…)

We went to our digs - the green monkey and checked in then took the car to the mazda garage for a new screen. The guy at Mazda had no idea what we were talking about and said we don’t even fit windscreens!! After a couple of calls he directed us to a windscreen repair centre at the other side of town, next door to a VW spares centre!! Now what are the chances of that then. We left the car with them for two hours and they were all so helpful it was almost a pleasurable experience.

Whilst they replaced the screen we had a wander round town and found on the way – here’s one for the anoraks – the jeweller who made the ‘one ring’ in lord of the rings…wow!! Anyway enough nonsense, Nelson is a buzzing city with a large Cathedral and bustling shops. It is a busy sea freight terminal and on the edge of the wine and fruit regions.

Our digs were OK not as friendly as some but warm and cozy with a good sized room. There just happened to be a pub over the road, another that brewed it’s own beer. So once we’d got the car back to the digs we wandered over. Just next door there was a chip shop so we thought, yes evening sorted. We ordered some beer and were told by the friendly bar staff that if we wanted to order some fish and chips from next door they would bring them round to the pub where we could sit with the beers and eat them. Wow, were we shocked or what….imagine that in Wetherspoons!!

After dinner we wandered through a local park and there was a sign for the central point in all of NZ. Well, we had to so off we went up and up and up. Sadly it was getting dark so coming back down was fun. The views at the top were good and after the obligatory photo we went back to the digs.

The following day we had another walkr round town and picked up some BBQ grub. We had another local walk after lunch up above the city on some trails and then went back for some BBQ and a glass of pop like you do… We weren’t overly smitten with Nelson it was OK but there was something about it that was just not right but couldn’t pin point it. Any way our time on South Island was slowly running out and the next stop was the last on the island and this leg of our trip, off to Picton tomorrow where we get the ferry over to the North Island more later.
Pix are from top Nelson Cathedral, clearing the path for Mrs D, the ‘one ring’ maker shop, NZ central point plaque, NZ central point from the city below, our BIG car outside the digs and a view over Nelson.