Tuesday, 28 October 2025
Well, if we thought the weather was bad in Nelson (top of the South Island) it was nowhere as bad as it was down in the south of the South Island where we came from on Sunday. This morning on the NZTA Journey Planner, nearly all the roads south of Christchurch were closed after heavy snow. Many of the roads have reopened during the day, but others remain closed due to landslides and fallen trees. We are glad we made the call to retreat to the safety of the northernmost part of the South Island with parts of the south without power since Friday. A State of Emergency remains in place in a number of districts.
Despite all of this bad weather we remain hopeful that it will be better from Thursday and into the weekend, so we might be able to do a couple of day trips out of Nelson. We’ve been looking at a book of Robin and Sandra’s called ‘Worth a Detour South Island’ by Peter Janssen. It has suggestions for visiting places that are on the roads less travelled so, fingers crossed, our sightseeing is not done yet. Then all we need to worry about is being able to return to Christchurch via Hamner Springs for our flight home next week.
Although we slept in this morning, we have managed to be more active than yesterday. It was a low bar that was set yesterday though. Not much was achieved this morning, but after lunch we headed out with Robin and Sandra to their weekly carpet bowls game. They have an enthusiastic membership of OAPs who certainly enjoy their bowls.
Today they were able to field eight teams of four playing on four pitches/mats/carpets? I should ask Robin or Sandra what the correct terminology is. I did learn that the target is called a ‘kitty’ in carpet bowls, rather than a ‘jack’ as in lawn bowls. The more experienced players made the Aussie novices very welcome, and were generous with their tips. Bernie and I managed to play three matches without completely embarrassing ourselves. Our biggest problem was a lack of consistency, but at least we didn’t bowl too many straight off the end or the side.
While we were at the hall we had a couple of hail showers, so the weather’s still inclement … even in sunny Nelson, ha, ha. After we arrived home, we decided that carpet bowls really hadn’t contributed much to our Exercise goal. Nowhere near aerobic enough!! We popped on our coats and beanies and headed off for a walk before we made ourselves too comfortable. Robin and Sandra live on a hilly street so walking to the end of the street and back provided us with enough cardio to earn our 30 minutes of exercise for the day.
With some late afternoon sunshine (finally) streaming in through the lounge room windows, we sat down to enjoy the zesty salmon spread we had purchased at the Mount Cook Alpine Salmon Shop at the southern end of Lake Pūkaki. Although it was a spread, we treated it like a dip and enjoyed it with celery sticks and Ritz crackers.
For dinner tonight, Robin and Sandra experimented on us with their new raclette grill. Invented in Switzerland, it’s sort of a variation on fondue and popular throughout Europe. Instead of dipping items into the fondue pot, you cook your chosen items on the hot plate or stone cooktop, then transfer them onto your plate. At the same time you put raclette cheese in a little pan and melt it under the grill, then poor the melted cheese over your cooked items. What’s not to like about a cheese forward meal??
We played two very close games of Bolivia tonight with Robin and Sandra winning by a narrow margin both times. That puts NZ two ahead of the Aussies again. There was no Jo played tonight because Sandra has to ‘work’ tomorrow at the op shop where she volunteers.
Steps: 8,514 (5.76kms)
