North of South

 Nelson.  Probably named after some seafaring lord whose first name was Horatio or some such. I haven't googled that one.

We had the good fortune to housesit in Nelson for some Anacortes/pickleball friends' daughter, whose Kiwi family was enjoying fantastic skiing in Utah. So we had this great base to explore the northern edge of the South Island, nine days in one place. And explore we did...

Nelson itself is a nice town, a cute central shopping boulevard, numerous parks and bikeways, an active harbor, at least one good art museum, and probably as many hills as Seattle.  And steep!  Our rented Nissan Tilda struggled to mount the hair-pinned, uphill curves sometimes ... and our abode was at the top of one of those.  Nelson also sits amid one of Aotearoa's many wine regions.

What strikes one upon approaching Nelson from the east is what looks like a very long jetty protecting the waterfront and harbor.  As it turns out, this "Boulder Bank" is a natural formation - a rocky bluff calves boulders into the sea and the currents have, over 10 millenia, continuously pushed those rocks southward to create this long rocky spit.  Only one other exists in the world, somewhere in Japan.

Anyway, Nelson is known in traveler circles for its proximity to Abel Tasman National Park, a popular hiking and trekking destination. When I was in Nelson in 1981, my friend and I chose to do a 5-day trek along the Wangapeka River, over a pass, to the West Coast rather than the AB, so I was eager this time for us to experience Abel Tasman.

We had a wonderfully relaxing time in Nelson, enjoyed getting to know the town and environs a bit, and even had our first Kiwi pickleball game at the badminton pavilion in nearby Richmond.

In the pictures below, you'll see visual evidence of our Nelson adventures:

* 32km bike ride from Nelson to Mapua, almost entirely on separated bikeways but also totally exposed to New Zealand's powerful UVs.

* The Nelson stop on the international buskers festival - a short video of a showman from Belfast.

* Water taxi along the coast of Abel Tasman NP, where we were dropped off at Torrent Bay, hiked to Bark Bay, and picked up again by the water taxi.

* 3-hour kayaking tour of Golden Bay, off the NW edge of Abel Tasman NP. 

Some of the hills of Nelson

Sunset from "our" ridge in Nelson

Walking the Boulder Bank

Torrent Bay, where we started our Abel Tasman hike

Swing bridge on the way to Bark Bay, Able Tasman

Hidden cove on Abel Tasman NP's coast

Waiting for the water taxi after our Abel Tasman hike

Nelson had a very cool classic car museum

Another swing bridge, this one on our 32km bike ride

The bike ride skirted an estuary that drained at low tide, revealing colorful grasses and lots of shore birds

At the end of the bike ride, in Mapua, we found this artist who made amazing figures out of found metal

Some very cool rock formations during our Golden Bay kayak, which took us into Wainui Bay and its huge green-lipped mussel farm

Spotted shags eyed us as we paddled by

“The Center of New Zealand” - Nelson claims it is the geographic center of Aotearoa, which monument we reached after a short, steep climb.