Discover New Zealand, Home of Middle Earth
Saturday, Day 6. We are driving through the wine country of Nelson-Blenheim, hoping that the weather will clear enough for us to take our helicopter ride to the Dimrell Dale, Chetwood Forest, and foothills of Caradhras where the Fellowship hid from the crebain of Mordor, all of which are inaccessible by land in the Kahurangi National Park. The mountain roads resemble the landscape of Eregion (Hollin) on the way to the Redhorn Pass.
I had planned to drive from Picton through Linkwater to Havelock, but was warned that the road was not the best, so we took the route through Belnheim, where we left NH1 for NH6, and Renwick. From Havelock we drove along the Kakamarina, Rai, and Whangamoa Rivers, which were just trickles of their usual selves because of the unusually dry weather. As usual, the mountains were spectacular, very much like the Misty Mountains.
The majesty of nature bears the marks of man, as the road winds through the Pelorus and Hira Forests. We noted large tracts of land where the trees were obviously planted, raising the question of what purpose was served not to leave the native vegetation as it was, but we forgot to ask and so never found out. For some reason, I didn't get a picture of the famous Pelorus Bridge.
When we got to Nelson, Bill Reid at Nelson Helicopters informed us by telephone that the weather was no good for a flight today, but tomorrow looked a little better. So we decided to spend a day in Nelson taking it easy and seeing the sights. One of them was this Volkswagen "bug" with pictures of ladybugs all over it, of which Stefanie just had to have a picture. We ate at the Chez Cafe, while a parade of vintage automobiles passed by, but by the time I was able to get a camera, it was gone.
While we were in Nelson we went shopping at The Warehouse, New Zealand's version of Wal-Mart. Stefanie went sightseeing with Joe, whom she had met on the Ferry, and who had accompanied us to Nelson. The most impressive sight was the historic Christ Church Cathedral in Trafalgar Square. The location was the site of two other churches, an immigration barracks, and a fort, part of which is incorporated into the steps leading up to the church itself. Since it was Saturday, there were a lot of pedestrians about, taking in the sights like we were. We saw a number of them pushing baby carriages (parambulators?) which seemed to be popular.
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