Tour de Nelson - Biking Style

Day 9 Nelson treats us to another fine day!
With A trip into town for some breakfast, we opt for Sweet As - Melissa’s favourite coffee place, the food excellent, with full bellies the crew minus me, once again do the centre of Nelson lookout walk (I am still on the light foot duties) whilst I hunt down some bikes to hire - we planned a cycling day today - We hire a couple of Trek mountain bikes and Kim and Denise bring there’s along too, they have E bikes and it’s city and region touring, biking style!
We start our trek along the waterfront taking in the hustle of the port and it’s large vessels docked in Nelson’s natural harbour which has a boulder reef that surrounds the whole area which has accumulated over the past 10,000 years and protects Nelson from The Tasman Sea. Quite a site. Our ride takes us along a timber walkway following the shore and the sea and range views are impressive especially on this sun soaked day, we come across a BMX track with its downhill start and bumps and jumps aplenty we all do a lap albeit slow and cautionary, but a heap of fun! Venturing along the waterfront and out of Nelson we

pass the golf course, airport and weave our way down to Monarco and stop at The Honest Lawyer Pub for some well earned lunch and a cool beverage. With our energy reserves replenished we cycle on traversing a lap of Monarco which is a small residential area on a spit of land where on high tides some roads are covered in water, the tides in Nelson are big up to 5 metres and hence when it’s low the water recedes hundreds of metres leaving boats high and dry for hours an amazing change in scenery and outlook.
The cycle back to Nelson is away from the waterfront and in the low lying hills and a bit more pedal effort is needed, Denise and Kim with their E bikes power up the hills and leave us two stragglers to grind up, once at the top of the rise it’s all down hill to Nelson and the cycling experience is a treat.
With a BBQ on the balcony in the setting sun, we then catch a movie and our day complete.
Day 10 -Sees us back in Nelson city for some breakfast and quieter

day walking the shops, galleries and general sight seeing, we take a walk through the Sutor Gallery where there is a couple of exhibitions one room is the abstract the other more regular art, this is a nice exhibit and it’s building and facilities are very accommodating, there is a very busy cafe which has a real buzz about it and this leads onto the Queens Gardens which is Victorian style garden with its lovely wooded pond area with ducks and geese a plenty - quite fun as the ducks up end themselves and dive their beaks into the water foraging for food. The gardens are well manicured and structured with a number different species of trees and monuments and the whole park creates a peaceful and relaxing outlook so close to the city centre.
The afternoon see us chill out and recharge our batteries as the past week has been so full on with activities.
Our meal tonight is Thai in downtown Nelson, Melissa opts for the Red Curry vegetarian, Denise stir fry and Kim and I have The

Mussamin Curry with lambs shanks ….. too die for!
Another day another chapter in our
journey, we say good bye to Nelson as we head south to the mountains as the adventure continues.