Summertime water activities at Monaco

Pretty typical scene this time of year

we have locals fishing off the back beach at Tahunanui, whilst tourist stride on by……

taking in the vistas and scenery, enjoying the fresh sea air….

and occasionally stopping to take momentos of the scene and happenings.

Summer in Nelson, must be..

…time for cricket to be played somewhere? In this case at Greenmeadows in central Stoke, Songer St & Main Rd Stoke intersection is just about centre of photo, with the 2 storey Turf Hotel just other side of the lights.

Photo taken from residence up on Panorama Drive, one of Nelsons newer elevated sub-divisions with great views.

View from Nelson cafe….

quite the spot for a bit of lunch don’t you think?

Theres that “Rock” again…

seen from a slightly different angle. Fifeshire Rock is infamous as it nearby is the site of a famous shipwreck.

Back in 1842, the Fifeshire entered the Haven, not through “The Cut” because that wasn’t blasted through with dynamite until much later, but via a passageway very close to this rock pictured, then called Arrow Rock.

Sadly after travelling all the way from England, this first of the New Zealand Company vessels to arrive, didn’t even make it out to open sea on the return voyage.

The Prow has the full story over here.

A summertime regatta out in the bay

with just the right amount of wind for a relaxing yachting, rather than a too stressful full on race day.

Its Nelson, its summer, lets get…

going out onto the water, by which ever means you want, just for some peaceful R & R.

The Boulder Banks southern end

features in this December photo of the lighthouse and the Nelson Haven on this side of the bank.

In the distance, although because of light sea conditions its a bit hard to tell the difference is Tasman Bay, and open sea.

From Nelson, Los Angeles is

6771miles (10895km) away as the crow flies, and London a mere 11642miles (18732km) distant.

Being at the bottom of the world, that’s one of the reasons we need big planes like these.

JUST FOUND - Clearest Water in the whole World

and wouldn’t you know…..

this aqua, this H2O, it too is in Nelson. And its world record stuff.

Previously Pupu Springs, over in Golden Bay, held the record at 63m “black” visibility……

but it seems there is a new chap on the block, and this new chap measures in at between 70 ~ 80m visibility.

In case you are a science geek….this number is approaching the max in theory, lab wise, for freshwater.

Full story over at Nelsonians.com.

Did you know that Port Nelson

is the largest fishing port in both Australia and New Zealand.

And we don’t half have a decent sized marina too. Used to be one of the main reasons was our very competitive mooring fees compared to places like Picton.

Bit close for comfort…

is how I reckon these home owners

would have been feeling this past week.

One house whose inhabitants probably did take flight………..right on the edge of this slip looks too have come through ok?

Nelsons Topic of the Moment..

….was pretty much encapsulated by yesterdays Front Page of the Nelson Mail.

The flooding in Nelson has caused over 160 slips and because the hills are so saturated with water, we might not have seen the end of them yet.

CREDIT – The Nelson Mail Thursday 15th December 2011

Bit wet in Nelson this evening….

just a few days after I talked about us winning the Sunshine Stakes for NZ.

For those that know the region where the Ridgeway drops down to the

 

Marsden Rd intersection this is how it looks tonight.

heres a bit of video where you can see the creek across the road from

the Stoke Fire Station ready to cross the road. Now…..wow, that’s high.

Kaiteriteri Kayaking…

is a really popular reason for visiting the Abel Tasman region

and as you can see, some launch from the famous “golden sands” beach itself

Wonder if we’ll see more of this…

down at NZ’s sunshine capital’s main beach, Tahunanui Beach, this summer? “Trash this dress“ I think they call it.

Looking seaward down Albert Rd…

in a North – North Westerly direction out to Tasman Bay. Prime real estate territory around here as you can tell from the views.

Further around the point is the Queens Rd Reserve, which was the topic of a prior post here.

This is what happened at Nayland Primary yesterday….

….this big red fellow showed up…

…..then entered the school grounds….

but parked on the playing field behind the school……

Apparently this is all completely normal in December,

for pupils who are seeing out their last year at Primary School,

Year 6 I think it was……

then the fun started….(I’m thinking even the fire-fighters had fun too)

this “shower” was at Nayland Primary on Nayland Road in Stoke, Nelson.

Our world famous in New Zealand “Boulder Bank” starts here …

….. under those steep slopes a yonder, at Glenduan.

Unofficially, locals refer to this area as just “The Glen.”

Its about a 13km drive north from the centre of town, but much of that is at open road speeds so its actually quite a short trip really…

i

….and second to this fantastic local natural formation, is one of the other most recognisable….

….you could say……almost “iconic” landmarks of Nelson…

……that of the Boulder Bank Lighthouse.

Ok, ok ….but before we move on what is the Boulder Bank?

There’s a good explanation of it over at Wikipedia. but briefly the www.dayout.co.nz website says…..

Boulder Bank Lighthouse

Boulder Bank (nr Nelson)
Nelson, Nelson/Marlborough

In New Zealand, only Wellington’s Pencarrow Lighthouse is older than the British-made, cast-iron tower which was erected on Nelson’s Boulder Bank in 1861-62. On the Boulder Bank too are interesting old baches used by holidaymakers in years past.
This is the longest natural boulder bank in the southern hemisphere.

At the Port end a man made channel, the Cut provides the entrance to the port .

Members of the public can visit this spot and climb to the top to enjoy a fabulous vista of Nelson,

although you need to visit the Nelson City Council office first….

….and go thru some formalities. ("”…like….you’ll need a key?”)

RELATED LINKS

Boulder Bank Lighthouse -  a day out

Boulder Bank history – local legend

Making the Cut - “breaking the bank” history

Argillite or Pakohe – what the heck is this