Tuesday 18th. March.
As the distant mountains remain
shrouded in cloud and the town overcast, today will be a more relaxed pace of
life once again.
In the morning I help Norman
move boards from his old kitchen from blocking space in his garage to Kate’s house
where she and Will can make use of them in the renovation of their house.
Norman & Monica then show
me around, a now sunny and warm Nelson; we walk around the shops, and I do a
bit of shopping. We walk around the Cathedral which is surrounded by majestic
trees planted around 150 years ago by the early settlers.
We then visit Nelson Museum,
which has an exhibition on the Christchurch Earthquakes. It increases my
knowledge and perspective of the event, and I find it a salutary and moving
experience.
Home for lunch on the Patio
It is now quite hot, and after
lunch I don as little as possible, plus sunscreen, and we drive up the Maitai
Valley to Maitai Dam, which supplies Nelson with its water, and has numerous
walks on old tramways from the doomed days of prospecting and mining of various
ores such as chromium.
This, like most of the valleys
around here, and in fact all of NZ (I can only talk of South Island of course) is narrow, steep and wooded
with either native bush or introduced species forestry. Some places are so
steep that I cannot imagine how they planted this forestry, never mind how they
will harvest.
This picture doesn’t
show the true scale of it all: very difficult to capture
After yet another of Mon’s
lovely meals, and Norman’s wines (Norman knows me well and is treating me to gorgeous
desert wine as well – every night) the cloud starts to break over on the
distant mountains (50 km.) and we get a spectacular sunset over a spectacular
skyline: It is my first real view of the Twins on Mount Arthur, with whom
Norman and I have a date. Next year???
Looking East from Norman &
Mon’s balcony over the Waimea Inlet to the Mount Arthur Range 50 km. away: Cloud
above and below.
Spot the twins
Promising a good day tomorrow?
I think you had better stay......you're having such a good experience and you look so well and sound so happy! We do recall coming back after five weeks and it was a bit of a letdown, so after six weeks of wandering....well?
ReplyDeleteIt is being considered. I am certainly thinking about coming back to do more of North Island next year, and try and get to do Mount Arthur with Norman, and I think that spending every UK winter here, would add a few years to my life. It has made me realise how hard the UK winters do hit me.
ReplyDelete