Fancy a Fancy Dress Party?

Though it says Willie Weavers at the bottom, they don't have much material for weavers, but they do have knitting patters and yarns. But the back of this cave-like shop is Fantasmagoria, the fancy dress, or rental costume, shop.

Kiwis love fancy dress parties, so they have people coming in and out all year round. We've been to a couple; the very first one we were invited to was in Auckland, about a month after we'd been in New Zealand. The hosts knew Ben wouldn't even think of getting into a costume, so they had one ready for him: a black, witch costume! What can I say; he had to wear it. And I don't have a photo of him in that skirt!

The Gratest Lie...

Browsing in Everyman Records

Everman on Hardy Street is the bigger of the two independently-owned CD shop. Wait, did I say CD? Everyman reduced the classical music section to nothing, and brought back a tiny (used) LP Record section. I spent half an hour browsing, and almost bought a couple at between NZ$6 and NZ$12, (we still have Ben's turntable hooked up to the system), but in the end I didn't because I couldn't be bothered thinking about turning the record over.

As a small I kid, I could drop the needle on the exact position I intended in the middle of any song, which was something of a family party trick. Amazingly, in retrospect, my parents let me do it on any of my records.

Looking at the names of the bands at Everyman, I was surprised how recently LPs went out and and CDs came in. Album covers themselves were art way back, and they were fun to see again, also.

So, how many of you never bought an LP record in their lives? How many remember the days when DJ meant something quite different?

Autumn Transformation

Compare with this and especially this.

Seifried Winery

I always want to shoot this building at Seifried on my way to and from Rabbit Island. I don't know if that's just one vine or many, but it's always trimmed (?) in this shape, and beautiful any season. Yesterday, I finally convinced Ben to stop on the side of the road and let me shoot it.

Seifried is one of the biggest and oldest wineries in Nelson; it has a restaurant and conference facility, but this and a similar building just behind it are the two where they actually make wine... And there must be a special name for such buildings... Does anybody know?

Blue

Kaiteriteri, Abel Tasman National Park. As orange sky disappeared at the other end, this end turned blue and almost merged into the sea.

Oh, Art Students!

This is the side of this building. You can't see what I'm on about? Look here.

Water Taxi

On the beach in Marahau, at the southern start of Abel Tasman National Park.

Penguino Ice Cream Cafe

This is the Penguino Ice Cream Cafe, a Must Visit place in central Nelson, facing Montgomery Car Park, where the Saturday Market is held. I understand their gelato is very much like what you can expect in Italy. Their web site is a wee bit outdated, though, because the Richmond Mall shop closed a while back.

Autumn

Same tree, different shot here.

Pukeko

In terms of colors, pukeko is one of my favorite New Zealand native birds. Their movements are not graceful, however, and friends who have a huge place in the Marlborough Sounds say they are among the more stupid, living in a compost heap, and noisy. All the more reason to like them, perhaps. (The photo looks a bit more tolerable enlarged. Thanks.)

JB has a great closeup of the foot here.

Market Day - Mapua Easter Fair

This is a scene from Annual Mapua Easter Fair. It was quite large scale market and there was a musical events, kids entertaining and, yes, lot's of people.

School Holiday

School year in New Zealand starts in early February. This year first term ended on Thursday before Good Friday and this school holidays goes on until the end of this week. With warm sunny weather (at least during the day) and the day at the beach with Mum and Dad, the kids must think it's summer holiday all over again.

Rabbit Island, around 4PM, Easter Sunday.

Play

Though Meg may not see many grownups or big groups, this is a very common sight, a bunch of young people playing a cricket on the beach. On the other side, I saw this boy riding on the bike.

Easter Sunday, Rabbit Island.

Beach Cricket

Kiwis speak nostalgically about playing cricket on the beach in summer, but this is the first time I saw such a big group of grownups playing. And good on them!

Rabbit Island, Ester Sunday.

Beach Access 9

Earlier this month (Easter Sunday)at Rabbit Island. We still have one of those hot days, but I thought the wind became a little bit chilly.

Hitchhikers

These two were passionately exchanging fluids for a looooong while, during which time I hesitated to shoot them, until two boys aged around 9 biked behind them giggling and staring, and a cars honked at them. They were, after all, trying to hitch a ride!

We don't see public display of amorous gestures in New Zealand much, so these two must be from away. On State Highway 6, outside Fairfield Park, Wakefield.

I want to thank Rita for suggesting I shoot the Caged Rocks in B&W way back; I don't think I would have thought of trying it myself.

Early Evening

Gorgeous cloud formation lit up by the evening sun.

Done, Folks.

Paul finally performed a "minor dental surgery" on me yesterday. My face looks like a balloon, no solid food for the next couple of days, and I'm back on Penicillin again, but I'm not carrying a time bomb in my mouth any more, and that's good.

Dentistry and I have a long history, as do my parents and my brother. My sister, on the other hand, represented her school district in a Good Teeth contest when she was 16 or 17, and she never had a cavity until she became pregnant with her first child in her early 30's!! In her childhood, she seriusly thought she was adopted.

Oh, the photo is about 7 minutes old. At 8AM, purple gray clouds were hiding the Takaka Hills, but one by one the peaks started to appear like the curtain being lifted at the start of a play; we had heavy rain overnight, and the hills had snow. It's the second time this autumn, and the air is crisp and lovely. As I type I can now see all but two peaks.

Not a River

It is Tahunanui Beach in the evening.

Cattle Stop

Cattle stops are supposed to stop bovines from walking out the gate, yet allow vehicles to pass.

At Fairfield Park in Wakefield, there is an extra-wide human path on the side, with no gate. So, if you were a cow, in a hurry to get out, wouldn't you just...

What??

What is happening here? It's one side of an Indian Restaurant; it has looked like this for about week now (3 April). No plastic or any other protection. Luckily, we have not much rain lately.

Country Drive

I love driving on roads where trees create a tunnel. Good Friday afternoon was partially cloudy, and my camera decided it needed extra slow shutter speeds.

On The Street Corner 2

All rings 1/2 price!

MADCAT on the Move

Jill Alexander used to teach Textile and Design when the polytech was called the Nelson Polytechnic, but she had bigger ambitions. Shortly after she left teaching, she opened this Mad Cat store opposite the Penguino Ice Cream Cafe; then she got a bigger studio right in town, and started her second, Work Dog, brand as well; Prime Minister Helen Clark wore Mad Cat at a Fashion event last year (I think); and this year she opened a store in Wellington's Lampton Quay (the main drag). All this within the last seven years or so.

Well, she closed her first store last week; the Nelson store is going to be in the same building as her studio; I'm kind of hoping we can have a peek at their work space from her new store. Go, Jill!

Also, some of you may be interested in Liz's Paper Crane Project: scroll down to read "About the Paper Crane Project". If you are keen to know about the origin/traditional use of the origami cranes, here's my bit. We are waiting for ours to fly here.

On The Street Corner

At the corner of Hardy and Trafalgar Street. This shop was always here and every corner had different one, same spot same shop. It was very hot day around 1 pm.

Harvest

Bought at NZ$3/kilo at the Saturday Market a week ago Saturday. ($2.99 at the supermarkets.) The sweet but not squishy pears in the blue bowl is my favorite; I must ask what kind it is. Every year I buy lots of pears intending to preserve or infuse wine/oil/vinegar, but I end up just eating them at the start of the season. So this year, I bought different kinds just to enjoy them first, and I'll worry about preserving later.

Entrance

The entrance of another historic building; this was the home of Nelson Technical School (1905); it still houses classrooms for Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, (same school different names.)

PS. Happy birthday to Meg.

Best Island

Workmen were doing something interesting by the side of the road and we were both watching them and missed the turn on Landsdowne Road on our way from Hoglands. Suddenly we were driving towards Best Island, a place we've only heard of but didn't have a clue where it was, amidst a view like this. We could see Rabbit Island, but there were no roads towards it that we could see. Here's a map/areal photo of the area. And now that we know where it is, well, we've been looking at it right outside our living room window for the last 10 years.

On Best Island is the Greenacres Golf Course; they've made the national news a few times because the course always had married couples' tournament, and some people who are partnered, cohabitating, or civilly united by civil union ceremony could not take place in the tournament. I can't remember how or if they resolved it, but I remember hysterical women expressing indignation on the radio; the defendants of the tournament were usually men.

And if you want to play golf there, you have the option to stay at the GreenAcres Motel. I've seen both Best Island and Bests Island, and I can't tell you which is the correct name.

Theme Day: A Public Mail Box

This old style mail box is still used, right across the street from my office. There are still few more of these around, as are even older ones as seen here. Meg posted examples of the newer and newest styles we have here.

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