OK, so last weekend I travelled over to Nelson on the South Isalnd with Paul and Carol (aka adopted mum and dad) For Amy and Terence's wedding! Overall, it was a great trip, although I wasn't allowed to pay for much, Paul and Carol wouldn't let me... So along with some photos, see what we got upto heading to sunny Nelson and back again!
Paul and Carol came to pick me up at 5:00am on Friday morning. Needless to say I wasn't worth much at that time of the morning. We drove to Wellington. Once we got there, we headed to check in. Some shots I got as we waited to board the ferry:
Owen's truck in the loading dock - I thought Owie would like this one! It's got a great big 'O' for Owie on the side!!!
This is the ferry - it may look small, but there were plenty of cars, truck, motorbikes and people on it! I took this from some distance with quite a lot of zoom... We travelled over on the Kaitaki (pronounced ky-tack-ee for you Aussies...)
Sam Nelson and me on the Kaitaki in the Queen Charlotte Sounds at the top of the South Island.
Paul and Carol on the Kaitaki in the Sounds - very beautiful.
The trip over on the ferry was, for the most part, very uneventful. Well, that is disregarding the fact that there was Paul, Carol, Jude and John with Sam and Rachel and myself all spending the trip together...
From there we drove to Nelson via the Queen Charlotte Scenic Route. It is stunning. My camera went flat (a testament to my organisation ability at 4:30am on Friday morning...) So I'll have to get photos from Carol for this part of the trip.
Along the scenic route is a small bay called Aussie Bay, so we had to stop and get a photo of the Aussie Boy in front of the Aussie Bay sign! The Queen Charlotte drive reminds me of Omeo highway in the Blue Mountains in Victoria - winding and twisting and slow going... but great views of the Sounds as we went.
After a short stop in Rai (pronounced Rye) Valley for lunch, we ended up in sunny Nelson around 3pm. Nelson frequently has NZ's most hours of sunshine each year. True to form, it was a beautiful 20 deg Fri and Sat and Sun in Nelson!
We stayed in a nice motel that Carol had found online - I was the 'extra adult' and so I got the kids room all to myself (3 beds, one for each night!)
Now Nelson is situated in a small valley on the coast. Here's a shot from a lookout:
Then we set out on an adventure to find Amy's parent's house - I say adventure because they lived on one of the ridges - filled with one way, dead end and very narrow streets! We took some time to find the place and after going down some very narrow streets, we came across the Winnington household and left wedding supplies there. We drove around and took in some of the great sights from up high.
That night we headed down the main street to find tea - we ended up in a small cafe where we all ordered stone grill meals - very good! The chef who cooked my steak was superb!
The next morning we took off on a scenic drive around Nelson again. We went to the Anglican Cathedral. It certainly is a large imposing structure in Nelson. In the gardens is the war memorial. Here's a shot of the statue, complete with graffiti moustache for Movember and goatee beard!
Inside the Cathedral was lovely. I suppose I'm a sucker for good religious art - there was plenty to offer in here. The stainglass winodws were stunning. This one is a depiction of Jesus as the good shepherd.
They also had all of the 12 apostles depicted in windows, complete with the method of their matyrdom. Peter carried an upside down cross, as well as the Keys to the kingdom. St Stephen had a nice stone about to hit his head...
Another of the windows was this one:
In the centre is a picture of Jesus. the flower like petals radiating out represented his glory. Then in the small circles surrounding that are other images from Jesus' life.
Then we decided to go to the Geogrpahical centre of NZ. This just happens to be up a very steep hill in Nelson. After a good half hour trek up the hill, we had a great 360 degree view of Nelson.
Here I am in the centre of NZ.
Another shot of me in the middle of NZ!
Off in the distance is Mount Owen (yeah, Owie another thing named after you!)
Here it is!
Ok, so it's not so clear, but you get the drift...
Then it was wedding time!
Here's the cake - now there is 10kg of chocolate in this 30kg sucker Terence tells me...
The flowers
Amy walked in to a song that Terence sang! He is quite the crooner! Amy with her Dad:
Amy's bridesmaids were all her sisters. She has 5 sisters (and 2 brothers). The girls:
Amy walked in to a song that Terence sang! He is quite the crooner! Amy with her Dad:
Amy's bridesmaids were all her sisters. She has 5 sisters (and 2 brothers). The girls:
Terence singing: He did a great job!
A closer shot of the girls
Terence and Amy doing their vows. The pastor's name was Paul, the wedding was in the Nelson Church of Christ.
The big kiss. Actually, the photographer was out of place and so he had to get them to go for round 2 to get the shot!
Signing of the register:
Paul then did a bible reading while Amy and Terence did a sand sculpture.
Making of the sand scuplture:
Mr and Mrs Brinkman by their cake!
At the reception, we had little glass beads on the table - our Palmy crew was very creative! Guess who made these! Was it a.) Rachel? b.) Jude? c.) me? d.) Paul or e.) Carol?
If you guessed d.) you were correct! Paul was in a really creative mood! He went on to add leaves and another 2 flowers... Rachel made lots of love hearts and soppy massages for Amy and Terence.
Just before the speeches, the palmy crew noticed that Terence, his sister Monique (the best woman) and John (Terence's Dad) were all writing their speeches, I guess it runs in the family!
Amy's Dad and brother, Sam, sang a song for Amy and Terence based on the joke that all Canadian chicks look the same (John is a chicken farmer...) very amusing...
The night wrapped up well and overall, it was a beautiful day!
On Sunday, we traveled north to Motueka (Moe-tew-ee-car). We went into the Motueka markets and browsed around. Paul saw everything 3 times as Carol wandered slowly looking at all the crafts and produce.
We met up with Richard and Bev Royds (fellow Palmy members) in Mapua (ma-poo-ah) for lunch and then browsed some more in the local shops. (Paul saw everything 5 times he said... Once as we drove in, 3 times while we looked and once on the way out...) We then went back to the Winningtons (very unsuccessfully on account of a poorly done map!) and picked up wedding gifts to take back to Palmy for the Brinkmans. We got invited by John and Evelyn (Terence's parents) over to their rental place for 'ditto' - a Canadian term for leftovers. We were joined by Monique and Dana (male name, people) and Canice with baby Ethan. Dana is Terence's best friend from Canada, Candice is married to Dana for some time and baby Ethan is 2 days younger than Imogen. We had a great time chatting away, learning about each other's culture. Monique lives in Sydney, John and Evelyn in Ontario, Canada and Dana and Candice in Alberta, Canada. We then went back to the motel to watch a replay of the All Blacks v Wales game to see if Dan Carter (NZ player) really did make an illegal high tackle on a Welsh player... I learnt a lot from Paul about the game... For the record (I know you don't care Anna) the All Blacks won 19-12.
The next morning we got up and left for home via Blenheim. Blenheim is the centre of the Malborough wine region. So we had to go wine tasting! We went to Saint Clair and did some tasting and some buying...
It was then off to Picton to wait for the ferry. We had lunch in the Toad and Frog cafe and while Paul and I finished eating, Carol went to explore the scrap booking shop and some local craft stores...
The weather wasn't so good - a nice southerly was whipping straight off of the South Pole, which didn't bode well for our crossing. The first half of the journey was smooth. However, once we were out on the Cook Strait, the waves got a darn side larger. There were many on the boat who felt crook... just like me. I spent some time sitting in the middle of the ferry thinking lunch was coming back to visit, but it never did (Lucky!).
We made it back into Palmy after a short detour in Levin for tea around 7:30pm. Overall a great trip with some great people!!!!
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