They call it “Trash that Dress….”

and if reports in the local paper are hinting at anything – local Nelsonians better get prepared to see more of this.

Me….well when driving around past Tahunanui Beach Saturday morning, I’ll admit I was puzzled by this lass on the beach in her wedding gown….but the game was given away when I spotted not one, but 2 photags there too.

Is this any way to treat a wedding dress….a dress from what many lasses would consider one of the most important days in their life…..well apparently the answer is ……. yes?

Surprisingly enough, it made the front page of tonights paper!

As in…….

Sandra Johnson said the concept was something she’d always wanted to do.

‘‘The idea is that the grandkids really aren’t going to want the dress, so why not go and have some fun with it?’’

The local paper alludes to what they were up too, read more here.

Ah or not….looks like Googles spider hasn’t reached it yet…..so Google

Bride’s wedding march with a difference

tomorrow and you’ll be able to catch up with this new trend.

Nelson Trafalgar Park now ready for RWC2011

September 2010

After spending upwards of $14m Nelsons new park has been upgraded.

On a very non Nelson day, its ready....CLICK here if you want to see the monster version of this photo

The new grandstand, with its special upper “media room” looks a treat too.

This is why people live here…

How would you like to wake up

….to this sort of view in the sunshine capital of New Zealand?

I did wonder what they were up to…

On Saturday morning a strange sight greeting me as I drove down the Main St

coming towards me, and flanked by many Police cars were these school age young adults carrying a log / caber?

Turns out it was part of “The Longest Day” and the part I was seeing was…..

“Each team then carried a stretcher to the Centre of New Zealand, then picked up the log which they carried to the Church Steps.” as reported by the local paper The Nelson Mail tonight.

It is all part of the 8 week long Cactus Programme.

What’s that? Best let the paper explain that;

The Cactus programme – an army-styled fitness scheme aimed at youth, attracted teams of students from Nelson College for Girls, Nelson College, Garin College and alternative education provider Youth Nelson to the eight-week course.

Full story here.

Down at the the beach this morning….

Still a bit cool from that Antarctic wind

thats currently visiting many parts of our fair land,

however one way to warm up the body ………

is with a spot of Orienteering

and that’s obviously what some folk where up to this am.

Others were content just to carry on fishing,

while others were out taking photos like me,

I suspect he was lining up the fisherman with the snow covered mountains as a background…..

meanwhile some decided a run along the beach would be a great start to the day.

While just a bit further up the road these folk were doing their best to keep warm by training.

And these guys were just out celebrating the auto….

American metal from the 50’s

and this nice one, a Corvette, or should that be “vette”, from 1961.

its that time of year again

Q: Why does Port Nelson Limited use a Dredge?

A: We have an ongoing Resource Consent to clear the shipping channels and wharves of debris that mainly comes down the Maitai River and collects on the seafloor. As agreed in the consent, this material is disposed at an approved dump ground in the Tasman Bay, sited approximately 3.5 kilometres west of the harbour entrance. The dredge Kawatiri is contracted from Westport every year to undertake this work.

The type of dredge used is predominantly a trailer suction, however, a backhoe dredge is used to excavate rocks and hard material.  Both of these are contracted from outside Nelson.

Over the past 10 years, Port Nelson Ltd has dredged on average 50,000 cubic metres of material per year. 

SOURCE – www.portnelson.co.nz

Mariners in Nelson’s early days, well…..

…well..…..back then…...they sure had a tough lot entering the “treasured and  protected waters” of the Nelson Haven. After all for reasons like such, it was selected as one of the NZ Company’s first settlements.

Unfortunately a big challenge……..as you can most certainly see from this “low tide” shot above, its quite obvious that without depth sounders their job would surely have been quite a bit more difficult than today.

Let me tell you “easy” to enter wasn’t always the case, as the above graphic and story from The Prow website will most certainly atest too.

Different than now, back then there was only the one entry point.

So photos, like the one above of the 5 star luxury cruise ship “The World” entering the Nelson Haven through “The Cut” would have…well to put it simply….would have been impossible!

Unfortunately many shipwrecks provide the proof that this was indeed the case.

The above photo shows the area just within the Haven, and in this particular example its plain to see its high tide outside the Boatshed and BoatHouse Restaurants.

In the immediate foreground, where the blue First Choice with-in 200km sign is, is the yacht club rooms which can also be hired out.

Which obviously now in the early evening, have been.

Guess the paying guests were expecting a nice seaside time/water view…..but in reality they should have been there 6 hours earlier.

Conference organisers take note – if you are planning a conference from a base in Nelson please pick the time of the month, and then the time of the day that will demonstrate our seashore to its best. [water filled is what I’m talkin’ about here]

Your paying guests deserve a “high tide.” Otherwise you might risk some group members being unhappy with the experience and that’s not something to write home about, or have as a testimonial….now, is it?

Contrast that low tide with the aforementioned high tide, and for you yourself, its not hard to see what those early mariners where up against.

At that stage, Nelson with its approx. 4m odd tidal range would be about as attractive to a new mariner as Wellington Airport is today to a new commercial aviation pilot.

But pick the right time…….and yet, even on this very low low tide of 2010 local fishing boat owners can still easily navigate their way out to the open sea, as this large Sealord fishing boat is demonstrating on the same day these photos were taken.

Ex Japan Second Hand cars provide plenty of…..….

Just in case you aren’t aware, here in NZ we have a steady trade in importing ex Japanese second hand vehicles.

One of the surprising side effects of this is that you often see vehicles you didn’t even know existed.

Cue this little Nissan vehicle that almost looks like it was purpose designed to be a promotion for any business.

Hmmm …….not a fan of Mr Gates I’m thinking…..

Going by this sticker on the back of a local vehicle………..

I believe if you looked inside this car, you’d probably find a car charger for an iPhone, iPad and iBook.

Promotional Vehicle or for another use

Just spotted this new arrival to town…….

and am curious if it has a use designated for it already or whether it may be here for promotional purposes?

UPDATE Sept 11th 2010: Secret no more…….

According to todays newspaper………

This 1939 Studebaker Hearse has been restored by Gordon Dacome and team at Autofocus in their Stoke workshop and is heading north.

The Nelson Mail states;

On Monday it's going back to the North Island, where it will be used by the Whanganui undertaking firm Dempsey and Forrest, which expects to put it into service by the end of the week.

For the full story go here.