Tuesday, 24 February 2015

New Zealand week 4 (Nelson)

Another week of great weather. We have stayed fairly close to home this week apart from our day trip to Nelson Lakes, so I can't promise an exciting blog post.

Marlene's likes the tap water in Nelson, as it has no taste of chlorine, so of course I was tasked with finding out more about it.  Nelson has had a membrane filtration plant since 2004, and they only add a small amount of chlorine to kill any bugs introduced between the plant and your tap.  The result - no horrible chlorine taste.  They also generate electricity from the flow of water from the dam to the filtration plant and save $26,000 a year on power costs - very creative.  I will have to compare Nelson water costs with Parksville costs, but that can wait for a rainy day, of which we are expecting a few this week.

One day we walked up to the Japanese Garden and had a picnic on the deck that you see in the photo below. Nelson is a twin city to Miyazu in Japan, and the people of Miyazu gave them this garden, which is a very peaceful spot to wander or sit and ponder.

Miyazu Japanese Garden

Marlene at Miyazu Japanese Garden

While we ate our lunch, a very small praying mantis appeared on my hat, and he became the most photographed subject in the garden.  He was not much more than an inch long and very cute.

Praying Mantis on Jim's Hat

Yesterday we walked to the Queen's Gardens and enjoyed a walk in the shade of the large trees. The gardens were very busy with several people feeding the ducks in the lagoon.  One enterprising young boy was catching eels using the nearly empty bread bag with a few holes in it. There were lots of willing participants among the eels and we saw him catch one while we watched. 

Eel Fishing at Queen's Gardens

In the afternoon, after a last coffee at Yello Cafe, we drove Fredda and Nick to the airport for their flight home. I think that they were sorry to be leaving, and it will be very quiet here without them. Their flight to Auckland was boarded, doors closed, and then the doors opened and all the passengers disembarked, due to a problem with a radio.  But they left only 30 minutes late, leaving them ample time for their connection in Auckland (we hope). 

Marlene wants to do some serious hiking this week, so I have been nursing my blisters the past few days to be ready for it. So stay tuned and we will see how it turns out. 

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