Fords Nelson NZ

Good breakfast spot in Nelson. Trafalgar St

Arriving in USA

Arriving at Los Angeles

Departing Los Angeles For Miami

This was an early morning flight. We took off out over the sea and then banked back inland and into the cloud and headed East over the desert. More to come.

The Explorer

The Nelson lighthouse, build in 1862, on the Boulder Bank.
The worlds largest natural rock formation of its type.
Check out the explorer up by the light with his transport anchored below.

Riwaka Nelson Region

Rob waiting for a coffee. This was a real gem of a cafe way out in Riwaka down a back road.

Obviously known by the locals as inside was busy. Quaint and friendly.

Grace

Tauranga Harbour Bridge

Under Powered?

All Those Years Ago

Check out the crowd. This is almost 50 years ago!

Stage Two

Second story goes on to Rob & Sarah's new home.

That was quick!

USA Beers From Boutique Makers

Blue Moon & Schlafly.

Two boutique beers (Schlafly has several)  well worth a glass or two. I liked both of them.

St Louis Basilica USA

During my trip to St Louis this week my business associate and buddie Doug and his wife Bev took me to see this most stunning and inspiring cathedral. Check it out if you are in the area it is one of those experiences you will never forget regardless of your religious leanings. There are 7700sq meters of mind blowing mosaics employing 41.5 million pieces of glass tessare in over 7000 colours. Work on the mosaics began in 1912 and finished in 1988.

We had a neat afternoon looking at some of the more select homes and beautiful parkland areas and finished at the Schalafly brewery. I mean where else would you go after church?

The photos are not that great as I only had my phone and it was dark inside and flash would not have been appropriate.

Thanks Doug and Bev. You were great hosts and gave up your Sunday to look after me. It was fun.

Here is what Wiki has to say about the St Louis Basilica.

Clicking on the small images will enlarge them.

The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, also known as the Saint Louis Cathedral or the New Cathedral, was completed in 1914 in St. Louis, Missouri, as the archdiocesan replacement for the Cathedral of St. Louis, King of France. Although workers began clearing ground for the building on May 1, 1907, dedication of the Cathedral and its first mass did not take place until October 18, 1914, when the superstructure was complete.[3] Consecration of the church took place more than a decade later on June 29, 1926.[4] The Cathedral was designated a basilica by Pope John Paul II on April 4, 1997.[5] The church is known for its large mosaic installation (which is the largest in the world[6]), burial crypts, and the addition of an outdoor sculpture to promote racial harmony.

St Louis USA

Killing some time here in St Louis USA

Its cold but fine right now. I went for a walk this morning and had two jackets on and a beany. So strange coming from our summer to this.

Tuesday morning will see all the work done and its off to LAX then after a few hours wait a 13 hour flight to Auckland another wait then on to Tauranga. Got heaps of photo's but only stuff you can take from airports and through car and plane windows. Miami was beautiful. South beach is the place to stay that's for sure. Its right on the coast and if you want to party its all there. I will post a few shots in a few days time.

Rob, Lake Rotoiti Nelson

Lakes district Nelson

Stage One

Rob & Sarah's new house now underway.

Frames went up in a day!

Historical Nelson Building

This was the facade (above veranda) of the old Majestic Movie theater in Trafalgar St. Some years back it was badly damaged by fire in the mid 90's.

As kids we spent many happy afternoons at the "Majestic". If you were lucky or rich enough to go upstairs there was a lovely ornate staircase and to us kids it was a wow experience to be in such luxury.

Perhaps in today's world it would, in reality, be a bit of a dump! But that's not as I remember it.

One film I can recall seeing there was The Young Ones, one of Cliff Richards early movies and to us a really modern film (I was about 11 in 1961) as it was still mostly black and white flicks for us kids. Another film I recall, god knows why,was Island In The Sun. I was really young for this one as it was in 1957 so I would have been 8 or so. I have always remembered Harry Belafonte's song of the same name from that film. He also starred in the movie. In fact last year I brought the CD so I could hear the songs again. Strange for a young kid to remember that stuff.

An extract from the Nelson council records read as follows.

Movies came to Nelson in the early years of the 20th

century. By the 1930s the city had two purposebuilt cinemas, the Majestic and the State. The State, a notable building architecturally of its era, 

survived the downturn in movie going which followed the introduction of television. The Majestic 

Theatre was destroyed by fire.

Surf League

Lion Foundation NZ National event held at Mt Maunganui this weekend.

White Lady Pie Cart

Fort St Auckland

One of the few remaining in New Zealand. 

Man On A Mission

Looks kind of dumb!

But there must be something in this stand up boarding thing as they seem to be growing in numbers.

Wish I could have waited for the wake of those boats to come through.

Rena Site Today

All go today as its so nice and calm.

Note the chopper.

Photo taken from Mauao (The Mount)

Feeling Of History On Waitangi Day

See the slide show in the post below. Here are a few individual shots.

The canoe is Takitimu Waka Taua (war canoe).

The flag has become know as the national Maori flag. Tino Rangatiratanga. It was designed in 1990.

Click on the small pictures for a larger version.

   

Takitimu Waka Taua

Waitangi day at Pilot bay.

This slide show will stream at full screen HD if you have the bandwidth.

Sorry about the music! YouTube music selection has its limits.

The Storm

North Island west coast. It has its own unique beauty. This shot was taken through the window of our plane as we were approaching Auckland airport from the south.

Nelson. Tahuna Beach

Wind surfers (Kites) at Tahuna Beach Nelson New Zealand. Heading out.

Note the fresh slips on the banks in the background. Nelson was hit very hard with storms in December.

3 Big Visitors

Three cruise ships appeared at the Mount wharf on Waitangi Day . I think this is a record for Tauranga.

Impressive, especially for the tourist operators and retailers. At least 3000 people (not counting crew) were on board the three ships. That's a lot of coffees and muffins!