Nelson to Murchison

Thursday 22nd November

Instead of playing at the main Nelson Golf Club on Monday we headed up the picturesque Matai Valley to the Waahi Taakara 9 hole course which was surrounded by hills and trees and had little rivers and (unseen from the tee) streams flowing through it. So there were quite a few natural hazards as well as the green corings to cope with - some of the greens had been cored, some hadn't and some were in the process of being done as we played so lots of variety. Only one big hill though! The course starts off being a little daunting as at the 1st tee you have to drive over the river but despite all these things I had one of my best scores of late so I was pretty pleased.
They don't allow overnighters at this course so we decided to head into Nelson to one of the free parking areas, down the end of Sovereign St, that our precious NZMCA book tells us about as we wanted to be handy to the bus repairer for 8.00am in the morning.

Well, driving down the street was almost an experience in itself - nearly everyone seemed to be either peering out their windows or coming out of their doors to watch us and from the unusual appearance of these people I instantly had a feeling that we were on a stage set for the Hobbit. I hopped out the bus and had a chat to one man who wanted to see that we had the latest book and who politely made it obvious that no-one would be happy if we stayed there. So we quietly moved on as all their attention was diverted by another visitor to the street!

Steptoe with all his belongings!

We tried the next free parking area in the book to find that there was a newly erected sign advising that motorhomes could no longer park overnight so all the Nelson Council rules must have changed in the last few months.
So there was nothing else to do but head on up the road to the official Nelson City Holiday Park, pay the money and make good use of their showers which were good.
We arrived in plenty of time for our 8.00am appointment to get the little bit of rust fixed under the bus and around the door but Craig, the motorhome man, didn't arrive til 9.30. However he is a nice guy and worked hard and we are happy with the results. His mother has a POP out of Ashburton so we may even stay there a night when in the area.