Bottle of wine, fruit of the vine, when you gonna let me get sober?

Today’s priority was to get the tent pole replaced, if possible. Nelson is one of the larger South island cities and so we had more chance getting a fix here than anywhere else other than Christchurch, but that is a days drive away. We went into the first shop the i-site recommended and got nowhere. Then we got a steer from some helpful guys in the next shop which eventually ended up with us getting a replacement pole. We then needed to cut the pole and refit the bungy so went into another shop where the guy said he would do it for us. So together we made up the new pole set. Two happy bunnies!! We now have a “spare” pole as the jury rig we did yesterday is holding up well. We will try and recoup some satisfaction when we get to a “Bivoac” store in CC.
That done we were at a point where we were thinking about lunch. So wineries map in hand we set off to do kill two birds with one stone wine tasting and lunch. Unfortunately, the ones we had chosen were closed. So Plan B; visit the oldest pub in NZ which has had a continuous licence since 1850. Bonus, they had microbrewery beers to sample at an attractive price for 7oz glasses, and decent country pub bar food. M’s Ploughmans had two large wedges of brie, olives, salad, pickles, gherkins, tomato and fresh farmhouse bread. I had nachos which were equally good. At $NZ12 each the pub was a very good choice.
We staggered out (full of food, not beer) and visited Seifield Winery where M sampled some very good white wines and brought one for tomorrow - a Savblanc. Much to our delight we discovered that 2 of their wines are available through M&S! So Claire, we won’t have to worry about shipping charges.
We then went to the centre of Nelson to the rather drab exterior of Christ Church Cathedral which inside had some stunning modern stained glass windows. They also had a copy of the Chartre labyrinth. What really caught our eye was a tribute stone to the plucky Londoners who did so much to raise the morale of Kiwis in Nelson despite the blitz in the early stages of WWll.
It was good to see a nice Scout and Guide display with the NZ version of the Promise, with the change of emphasis from “keep the Scout Law” to “live by the Scout Law”. I suspect this is much more what BP intended.
It’s interesting how many provincial museums there are. Something about the NZ realisation that unless the limited history is preserved for posterity then its own identity will be lost. Nelson is no exception and they had some very well exhibited objects, but the social history was a little disjointed in how it was presented. Nelson as a city is very attractive, with modern and older properties side by side, each with their special character adding to the enjoyment of the city. I’ve never had such an easy drive around Trafalgar Square!
No visit to Nelson would be complete without a visit to the geographic centre of NZ. You just have to do it especially since very close to this is where the first rugby match was played in NZ between two Nelson college teams. The sign said “NZ Centre – 50 mtrs”. What it didn’t say was that the start of the track was 50 metres away and that the trig point was on the summit of Botanic Hill 147metres high. Wow, what a view from the top, but the 3 repeater signs saying 15 minutes to centre were a bit disheartening.
Fresh tuna and Marlin steaks in hand (well in a bag actually) I had a date with some garlic, and olive oil, whilst M made a very passable couscous salad with fresh coleslaw. Gourmet night tonight. As I was the chauffeur today I’m sampling another RedHead (medium in body with a slight sweetness!) courtesy of the Duncan family.
Wednesday (tomorrow) we are on our way back to Picton and so hopefully we will get the blogs up to date as the current site has no internet access at all. We understand that all connections go via Hawaii, so that explains the bottleneck we sometimes experience on internet speed.
We’ve just found out that Starbucks has free internet access for patrons. Looks like it may be coffee and a sticky bun for elevenses tomorrow before Lunch in Havelock and a date with some green-lipped mussels!