A Day in Nelson

Given our difficulty finding a room when arriving in Nelson, and that the hotel we did eventually find was booked for the following night, we immediately did some phoning around town to find a room for the next night. After much hunting we did find a motel near the downtown area with a not-too-extortionate rate.

The downside of all that is that we were forced to pack up our crap once again in the morning and be out by 10:00am. We did all that and drove to the main business district where we parked and fed the meter. We found an outdoor cafe and had a bite to eat before heading off on a walking tour of town.

We visited Nelson on our last trip but sadly we spent a Sunday there and everything in town locks up the doors at 3:00. This time we were there on a Friday so we had a full day to browse the shops and sample the streetside pubs.

NERD ALERT! Lord of the Rings trivia ahead!

On a side street in Nelson is the Jens Hansen jewelery shop. These are the jewellers that were selected after a competition to provide the titular rings for the movies. There were several rings produced of various sizes for different purposes. In all cases the writing was added to the ring inside surface as a CGI effect in post processing. This greatly oversized ring ...


... was made from Stainless Steel with Gold flashing. It was used for the special effects shots (such as the tumbling ring shots in the opening). This somewhat oversized ring was made for the Sauron character, large enough to fit over the large gloves (in the scene where the ring is cut from Sauron's hand).


In this shot is a human-sized ring in the same style which they produce as requested. The price list is visible in the shot above (note a NZ dollar can be purchased for around .80 Canadian).


We did not, for the record, purchase any rings. Finally, they had this slightly oversized ring made that was the one worn on a chain around Frodo's neck for most of the film.


We have seen a few of this breed of dog in our travels in NZ. It seems to be popular, but they all seem to have the look of being afraid and beaten down (I realize it's the look, and that they are not really beaten).


We re-fed the parking meter and wandered around more of the tourist shopping areas without seeing much to tempt the coin from our pockets. After much walking, we needed to replenish fluids and so we chose a "Garden Patio" which was pretty warm and sunny and not very garden-y.


The motel became ready so we drove over, settled in, and then walked back up to the main restaurant row for an early dinner. Every Friday night in the summer they set up an artist's market in the street ...


and so traffic was blocked off and tents erected in the newly created pedestrian mall. We decided to hang around until everything was set up ...



... and while waiting we found the New Zealand John Harron. A bit of explanation: Our friend had a milestone birthday a little while ago and as a joke some friends made up a series of cards showing how frequently John Harron lookalikes seem to show up in various locations and in film. This is just our contribution to the ouvre.


In this case, NZ John Harron is the drummer in the band hired to entertain everyone at the street market.


A shot of a couple of fans


And finally here is a bust and sign dedicated to a local coffee shop owner who welcomed the local arts crowd for many years.


We found Nelson to be an interesting town but we both agree that we pretty much saw everything we needed to see the last time we were here and probably didn't need a return visit. C'est la vie.


Until next time...

Don