The fish are jumping!
Tonight’s paper has a story of a fisherman who caught a big-eye tuna yesterday while fishing off the Boulder Bank here in Nelson. A magnificent fish and an extremely rare catch in these parts. People commented on all the action right now: lots of small fish, kahawai and even kingfish. I can quite believe it, because look at this action from this morning.
At around 9 am I was alerted by the sound of water splashing, like a washing machine. It was a shoal of small fish being attacked from above and below, directly below us. I watched for a while, fascinated, then remembered to get my camera. I think I must have been quite excited, because these are not as sharp as they should have been. Here’s what I saw:
Christmas Greetings!
Christmas Eve in Nelson this year was warm and sunny, a welcome change from the floods and landslides a week ago. Our Pohutukawa tree is in flower, in spite of the insults it received earlier in the year.
Samuels Rose Garden
Yesterday morning I was up early, meeting a friend at the Samuels Rose Garden. He’s a talented young photographer and had suggested that we get there at sunrise. He was right: the light was great at that time of day. The rose garden in located in the grounds of an historic home in Nelson, Broadgreen.
I got there first, before the sun was up. The light was still very cold, but was great for bringing out the detail. This rose was called “Clodagh McRedy”:
Nelson’s Boulder Bank and Lighthouse
A couple of weeks ago the local Nelson Camera Club hosted visitors from other clubs from the West Coast to Marlborough. There was an early morning field trip, to Nelson’s Boulder Bank and the Lighthouse:
Nelson knitters run wild!
We’ve gone all colourful and Italian, now the Rugby World Cup has started and Nelson is hosting the Italian team. I’ll try to give an idea of the feeling in town with a few pictures.
Pohutukawa versus View
The Pohutukawa tree is New Zealand’s Christmas tree, due to the colour of its spectacular flowers.
The Long Lunch
The Rugby World Cup is upon us! We celebrated the arrival of the Italian rugby team with a “Long Lunch” the other day. 800+ diners took over our main street for a few hours.
You cannot own a view
As well as having a good climate, Nelson has a lot of building sites with views of the water. This shot, for example, is from my front doorway:
