Exactly two weeks into our Australia/New Zealand adventure we found ourselves in Nelson, New Zealand. Nelson is located in Tasman Bay on the north shore of the South Island. Again, rather than take the official tours, we decided to stroll around town and see what we could see. Found and walked through the Queen's Garden in the center of town, toured the surprising Suter Art Gallery , walked over to, around, and through the Christ Church Cathedral, and then found a nice local cafe for lunch before heading back to the ship. All in all a very nice day!
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| Ducks and a sail sculpture... |
Local flora, lots of succulents. |
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| China donated this garden to New Zealand. China is alot closer geographically to New Zealand than the United States, China and New Zealand are major trading partners. China is looking for friends and influence in the region and they are succeeding... |
Bridge to the Chinese Garden |
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| View of Chinese pagoda from the bridge. |
Floor consists of individually placed river stones laid out in a mosaic pattern, pretty cool! |
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| Right down the street from the Queen's Garden was the entrance to the Suter Art Gallery. |
Interesting free-standing sculpture, butterflies perhaps? |
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| Side-by-side paintings of flowers, paint was mixed with metal flecks so they sparkled. |
Another exhibit at the gallery. |
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| View of the Christ Church Cathedral tower |
Monument on the stairs leading up to the cathedral, not sure what the dates represent. |
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| At the top of the stairs, whew! |
Close up view of the cathedral bell tower. Church and especially the tower were heavily damaged during the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes. The Anglican Church has proposed that the entire cathedral be demolished and rebuilt but there is local opposition. |
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| Side view of the cathedral, not very ornated compared to European equivalents... |
Reward after a hard days walking, lunch at the Cafe Affair in Nelson, right across from the cathedral. Quiet, nice atmosphere, and they had a great special of soup, bread, fries, and a beer for $15 NZ. |
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| Panoramic view of Nelson harbor as we cruised away to our next port-of-call. |
