Motueka / Abel Tasman
Motueka is the little town closest to Abel Tasman, the large national park at the north of the south island of New Zealand. Got that? You can only enter the park from the water, so there are water taxies scheduled like busses, with various stops along the shore. Once there, you can hike around, and then catch one of the water taxies back to where you started.
The first stop isn’t really a stop, because you can’t get off here… but they circle the “Split Apple Rock.” There are theories on how it got there, and how it got split in half… but nobody was there to see it happen.
We chose to land at Anchorage (Not in Alaska), a ways into the park with good hiking trails and a couple of nice beaches.
The park is lush like a rain forest. Hiking offered beautiful views, even when all you could see was a myriad of green plants!
The Weka birds are large and not afraid of people! Above you can see one investigating the zipper on the side of my pants leg. Below you can see a naughty bird digging in someone’s beach gear, looking for and finding some snacks.
Abel Tasman is supposed to be good for interesting birds, and we did see (and hear!) lots of them.
Mark Twain wrote about steamboats plying the Mississippi River in the 1800’s. They would stop at a little town by running the bow up against the riverbank, and then throw out a plank to use walking to shore. These water taxies do the same thing, but with a clever folding plank, hydraulically operated.
Here’s a very short video of the plank in operation:
Nelson
The town of Nelson is about the center of the north coast of the south island. I had figured a short stop there to stretch our legs as we drove through. Wrong! There is far too much to do than we had time for, but we gave it a great try!
The big Christ Church Cathedral is worth touring, and I learned about Labyrinths in churches.
In case you want to learn of labyrinths in churches, you may read the sign below. This church has one painted on the floor, and I walked it. Can’t say that it did much for me.
Can you believe there is a Nelson Classic Car Museum? We certainly hadn’t planned on that, but we couldn’t pass it up either.
There were plenty of fascinating cars, but I have managed to keep my reporting down to five.
The 1926 Packard Touring car below has a couple of very unusual features (besides the Crystal hood ornament.) The center spotlights would turn as the front wheels were steered, much like the Tucker would a quarter century later. But wait, there’s more! They also could be adjusted higher or lower with a lever in the car. If that wasn’t adequate lighting, there is a huge spotlight on the driver’s side running board, that could be adjusted by just reaching out and grabbing the handle. Very bright!
My favorite was this awesome Packard. Couldn’t leave it out!
I’ve heard of the Locomobile, but hadn’t read much about them before. Locomobile was started in 1908, when their racer hit 110 miles per hour! They wanted to complete with the “Three P’s” of Packard, Peerless and Pierce Arrow, and figured they could only do that by incredible quality. They limited production to four cars a day. By 1916 the were the most expensive cars in America. This one is a 1916 Locomobile Speedster.
Cherryl’s favorite in this museum was this fabulously restored 1936 Pierce Arrow. An absolutely huge car, it represented the pinnacle of the Pierce Arrow marque, but only 787 were built. 1936 was the last year Pierce Arrow produced cars.
The last car featured here is this 1983 Honda Accord. Why on earth is this Honda in with all these awesome classics?? I’m glad you asked! Here’s the story:
In the late 50’s and early 60’s, New Zealand’s government wanted to encourage local industry, so they imposed a tariff on imported goods. They negotiated with a British firm to produce NZ cotton. Basically, that failed, only after they had built a mill and spent 280,000 pounds. A couple of years later, Standard Triumph NZ bought the site for 75,000 pounds, and assembled cars with a mix of British and locally sourced parts. Sometime in the 80’s, Honda bought the plant, and made cars here till 1988 when the government removed the tariff, and car assembly in New Zealand was no longer viable.
So what’s cool about this Honda? It was built right where it now sits… the site of the Honda plant is where the Nelson Classic Car Museum is located. Now you know – the rest of the story!
We chose almost at random a place that sounded fun for lunch. The Melrose House has an interesting history, but since I spent so long talking about cars, you will get a much abbreviated story here. Charles Watts, one of Nelson’s early immigrants, had this house built in 1879. He named it Melrose, because his daughter was born in Melrose Place, in Clifton, England. She died at age 11.
Charles didn’t live long here; he died in 1881. Another of Charle’s daughters took over the house, and developed the beautiful gardens. By 1930, Charles’ grandson turned it into a rest home for women. That closed in 1973, kicking the original trust deed into action: the house was to be held for the benefit of Nelson citizens. The town at first didn’t want it, but the “Melrose Society” lobbied for the acceptance, and guaranteed upkeep.
It is now open for touring, holding meetings, etc. And the best part is the little cafe, that has delightful dishes served in a very elegant setting! I had Frumpets! French toast made with Crumpets. Everything was served so artfully, and was super delicious!
The stairway, like all the woodwork, was magnificent. A stained glass skylight is at the top of the stairs.
Picton
After our much longer than anticipated tour of Nelson, we drove on to Picton. This is where the ferries leave to take you to Wellington, on the north island. It is also a quaint little town.
This pub looked important. If I was going to start drinking, I’d likely need one of their “Drinking Consultants!”
The Edwin Fox was built in Calcutta in 1853, of teak. She was designed to carry tea to England. She also carried British troops to in the Crimean War, but most famously, British convicts to Australia. She is the only surviving convict ship, and the oldest surviving merchant sailing ships. She spent her last working years as a floating storage shed – for coal, then frozen fish! The term “Surviving” is used pretty loosely here, as you will see in a minute. Below is a model of the Edwin Fox in her heyday.
She is now in a dry dock, where the goal is stated “Not to restore, but preserve.” She’s in pretty sad shape, with timbers rotting and copper plating coming off her hull.
The museum had a nice diagram of how you load tea in a clipper. You can read it here in case you should need to know sometime.
Among the artifacts displayed, was this brass button cleaning guard. I never realized they existed.
From Picton harbour we took yet another water taxi to the wildlife preserve of Kiapupu. (I’m not making this up!) This is not an island, but rather the end of a peninsula that is again, only accessible by boat. A “Predator Proof” fence separates the sanctuary from the mainland, and keeps rats, cats, stouts, and such from eating the birds’ eggs and otherwise threatening them.
The ride over is gorgeous, and the hiking was super beautiful too!
Our rooms in Picton had a great view over the town and the harbour.
I like this little time-lapse movie because you can see the morning begin, and two ferries scurry off to the right for Wellington.
Crossing Cook Strait
Speaking of ferries leaving for Wellington, we boarded one of them Wednesday morning, looking to cross Cook Strait. Cook Strait is not a technique out of a recipe book, it is the stretch of water between the North and South islands of New Zealand. Sometimes it can be pretty rough water, but this day it was calm and gorgeous.
The ferry is amazing. There is a deck for cars and trucks – five lanes wide! The big Semi trucks drive in first, entering in the right lane, then turning around at the far end of the deck and heading back to the stern where they entered. (But in a different lane.) Once the trucks are in, the cars can enter the same way, but being able to turn a bit more sharply, they can get into more lanes. The final lane is filled with cars facing opposite all the others: they don’t turn around till the rest of the cars are out of the way at the terminal in Wellington.
Underneath the truck/car deck is the railroad deck. I think there are three tracks running the length of the ship, and they get loaded with train cars.
Above all this are decks for passengers. A couple of cafe’s, many different lounging areas, and observation decks so you can enjoy the magnificent vistas along the trip.
A lot of the three and half hour trip is between small islands, making for an interesting sail.
Below is another time-lapse of the ferry turning around at Wellington, and backing into the unloading dock. You can see three lanes of Semi’s on the right, and on the left is one headed into the ship. He will turn around after the others are out of the way.
Wellington
Wellington is another modern city, with old roots. An interesting mix of new and old architecture.
The “Cable Car” is a Wellington landmark. Completed in 1901, it carried 425,000 passenger trips that first year! It has remained a favorite way to get to the posh suburb of Kelburn at the top of the hill. The ride is steep, and goes through 3 tunnels. The cars are built so the seats are terraced, since the car itself is running up about a 40 degree angle.
I haven’t put pictures up of where we stayed, because usually they weren’t terribly interesting. But our place about 30 minutes outside of Wellington was adorable. Very tiny, but very classy. So well decorated, and a beautiful view. The hostess, Julie, was wonderful too. Great fun to get acquainted with her.
I don’t usually take pictures of birds or animals in captivity, but at the Ngā Manu sanctuary, we could get so close to the birds I couldn’t resist. These are birds that have been rescued, and are not able to be returned to the wild.
We even got to feed some of them. I’ll admit it’s a little intimidating when this BIG bird comes at you, however carefully, with that giant can-opener bill!
One guy really liked Cherryl!
We enjoyed our time at Ngā Manu so much that we came back that evening for a Kiwi viewing. We’ve tried to find Kiwi in the wild, but with no success. Here we could see them (in their safe sanctuary enclosure) where they are most comfortable… in the dark. To the back of the enclosure was maybe 25 feet, and there were plenty of big bushes for the Kiwi to hide behind. There were red lights that dimly lit the area, and our guides had red flashlights to help find the Kiwi. So even in this small space, with guides to help, finding the Kiwi wasn’t easy! They are very quiet, and move pretty cautiously most of the time. It’s no wonder why we weren’t able to find them in the wild! But we did get to watch them for a while. Very interesting birds!
We learned a lot about how they are built and how they live. Most birds have a large bone in the center of their chest, which protects their chest and is an attachment point for strong wing muscles. Kiwis don’t have that bone, (they don’t fly) and if a person (or dog) presses on their chest, or holds them incorrectly, they suffocate and die rapidly. Ouch!
A trick question was asked our group… Do you think a Kiwi has a long beak? Well, obviously… it’s their most noticeable feature. But bird’s beaks are measured from the tip to the nostrils, and a Kiwi’s nostrils are almost at the tip. Meaning, technically, they have a very short beak. Their eyesight is very poor, but their sense of smell is very good. They find food by poking their beak into the dried leaves and whatever on the ground. This gives them the posture of a little old man with a cane. They root around much like a blind man uses his white cane.
There were also a couple Morepark Owls in the enclosure, and we watched them get fed. (Little dead male chicks.) Magnificent birds also!