Mosaic 1

This is a part of mosaic facade on the left side of a theatre entrance. It's fun to look at!

Toad Hall

At the entrance of the township of Motueka is Toad Hall, our regular fruit-and-frozen-yogurt stop. It used to be a gift/souvenir shop with a little bit of veggies, fruits and milk, but now the emphasis is more on the veggies and fruits, catering to locals and visitors as Motueka is the last town before you enter Abel Tasman National Park.

The lady with the earing was in charge of the goodies this day, and the queue was the longest we've seen in months. After having our frozen yogurt here for nearly 10 years, I noticed for the first time, looking at the building from the outside, that...

Red Net and Blue Sky

At Riwaka. Another shot here. The red nets are to keep the birds out.

[Erratum] As JB said in his comment, it is a shade cloth. He kindly gave us a link to Nelson Mail article. Thanks John!

Hop

Areas surrounding Motueka township north of Nelson used to be a big tobacco growing region until Rothmans stopped buying NZ tobacco; we also heard that it was because New Zealand government decided to stop domestic production of tobacco, so I'm not sure what the truth is. I believe around that time hop and apples started to replace tobacco, in more recent times, grapes, other fruits and olives. Most of the hop is taken down to Christchurch to make beer, Canterbury Draught.

Nelson's biggest brewery, Mac's, has recently closed its operation here and moved to the big smokes but that's another story; we have a few boutique breweries which we prefer.

More information on tobacco dated 2001 here.

Trailer

We stopped by to buy a bag of cherries and apricots and I found this. It's a nice blue sky and interesting clouds featuring this trailer. To the left was a stall selling cherries and apricots; we couldn't buy any because Meg had spent all the cash buying strawberries at a fancier stall down the road.

Someone Else's Sandcastle

Where else but Rabbit Island. The wind was getting stronger, and the castle was crumbling even as I shot the pictures, and I kept thinking about Osgiliath; too much The Lord of the Rings DVDs over the holidays. Here are some other shots, including an "aerial" shot.

Kaiteriteri Beach

Kaiteriteri Beach; golden sand, blue sky, warm water, this is opposite the holiday park posted yesterday.
Another shot here.

End of the Holiday

Last night, some of these folks were tidying up their belongings, getting ready to go home, while others were sharing a beer with their neighbors, standing by the fence and looking at the beach across the road. A typical Kiwi summer holiday. The man in the green tent relaxed in either a hammock or a Lazy-Boy-type foldable chair, while the Mrs fussed about.

It's not a great shot, but I really wanted to capture the bittersweet mood of the motor camp without getting right into the faces of the holiday-makers on their last night. Teenagers were talking especially loudly with animated gestures with their new friends; kids were insisting on one last run down the slide while parents stood around waiting. I was feeling nostalgic about thier summer memories already.

Amazing how many had a satellite dish, too. (And it'll be a while before I post a photo with the rubbish bin right in the middle in focus!) At Kaiteriteri Beach, north of Motueka.

Sailing on The Beach

At our favourite Rabbit Island. I believe this one is a home made vehicle and, boy, it's fast!
Another shot here.

New Zealand Ice Cream Containers

Knowing the fresh stuff were only 15 minutes away, I couldn't stand eating frozen, so we went again last Saturday.

I also wanted to show you the New Zealand ice cream container. Of course various manufacturer has different sizes and shapes of container, but when someone refers to an ice cream container in this country, s/he means the square, plastic 2 litter containers. They come in white, black, blue or sometimes purple, and we use and reuse these in the kitchen, the workshop, in arts and crafts, schools, and on picnics. They are square, stackable, and just so darned handy, and if you break or loose a few or need to give them away, no worries, all you need is to get some more ice cream.

For such a convenient and loved vessel, I'm sorry it hasn't got a spiffier name than the "ice cream container".

Pohutukawa

This one is just outside the living room. It usually full in flower by Christmas, but it is little late this summer. Here is another angle and link to wider shot.

Our Car

Ben's allowed to dream; ours is the red one in the reflection. I just loved the color of the Porsche.

The NZ School of Fisheries Buliding

This is my favorite old building in Nelson, the former library, built in 1911. The three facades on Hardy (front), Harley (east) and the west side have "features of heritage significance" and the building is a Group A Rank 2 (!!) historical building.

For more information about the school can be found here and here.

The Best of Nelson Daily Photo 2006

Happy New Year everyone!

We have done quite number of landscape photos featuring sky and cloud formation. They include burning red sky, purple sunset and some like this one in the morning. We choose this because of the cloud formation that we both think is interesting and the photo shows one of the landmarks of Nelson, the Boulder Bank.

The original post can be found here.

Today is Theme Day. Other DP Blogs have also selected their best photo from 2006. Please click on the numbers below to view them.

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