6 SUNDAY DETOURS - TRAVEL SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 HERALD ON SUNDAY

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INSIDE NZ

Endless summer,rain or shineKerri Jackson sings Nelson’s praises,even when it’s pouring down.

UpperMoutereUpperMoutere

RabbitRabbitIslandIslandRabbitIsland

MapuaMapuaMapua

Richmond

MotMotuekauekaMotueka

Nelson

TasmanSea

10km

‘‘Wine, food and art. If one or allof those things interest you thisis the place to be, nomatterwhat theweather.’’

Top from left, hot-smoked salmon served for food and wine matching at Neudorfrow, from left, the Heritage Rutherford Hotel; sunny Trafalgar St; the bustlingCollectible Car Museum; Anna Leary’s sculptural art on Tahunanui Beach, the

NELSON IS, if you bypass peren-nial arguments with Blenheimand Gisborne, the sunniest city

in New Zealand.How then to while away your time

there when it coincides with one of thewettest days of the year, a day whenwaves threaten to wash over themeandering waterside road linkingthe town with Tahunanui Beach, andwhen the beautiful views over theharbour and marina are marred byhorizontal rain and gusting winds?

The answer — as it is to so manyotherwise unanswerable questions —is wine.

Or, to be more accurate, wine, foodand art. If one or all of those thingsinterest you this is the place to be, nomatter what the weather.

Noel Kennedy has cleverly drawnon his experiences in the New Zealandnatural environment and its wine toset up a variety of excellent toursthrough the Nelson and Marlboroughregions.

Now he has added Nelson’sthriving arts community to the mix,with a tour designed to introduce visi-tors to the things that make this smallseaside city special.

Kennedy’s Wine Exposed art/winetour starts with a pause at a hilltoplookout to admire the view over thepoetically named The Haven and theboulder bank which has created thispretty harbour.

The bank is a rare geological feature— one of only three in the world,created by tidal currents. It stretchesfor 13km across the Nelson water-front, and the sandbar, where thelighthouse still stands picturesquelyagainst the sea, is still dotted with afew baches, the work of lucky folk whobuilt years ago, before such thingswere banned.

From there it’s on to lunch,prepared by Kennedy and eaten in thehome of well-known local artist AnnaLeary. Before lunch, Leary walks usthrough her home and studio, with itsepic views over the harbour andvalley, talking about the art on displayand of her inspirations, which so oftencome from her Nelson environment.

On the balcony, Leary points outthe homes belonging to differentartists that are dotted around the val-ley. It’s a neat physical representationof this tight-knit but still open artisticcommunity.

The idea of dropping into an artist’shouse or home studio may be a littlestrange for many visitors and in a lot oftowns, but in Nelson it just seems towork that way. ‘‘It would be weird if itwasn’t like that,’’ Leary says.

That kind of attitude also makes theNelson region an excellent place toexplore independently. Take a tourlike this to get your bearings, then hopin a rental car and explore on yourown. It’s a follow-your-nose kind ofplace. Back roads and main highwaysare dotted with signs advertising art,olives, wine, cheese and plenty more.

In most instances, visitors are wel-come to roll up and admire or buy.

But for now, Kennedy is navigatinghis Mercedes people-mover downNelson’s narrow winding alleyways,some dating back to the town’s settle-ment.

Then it’s out through Tahunanuiand Richmond to the wine countrythat sits between Nelson and the sum-mer beach meccas of Golden Bay,Kaiteriteri, Abel Tasman National Parkand Farewell Spit.

Kennedy keeps up a fascinatingcommentary on the wine region’ssocial history (settled by the Germans)and geographic make-up (surroundedby forests and national parks that —except for today — keep the storms atbay, providing its famously stableweather) until we arrive at NeudorfWinery in Upper Moutere.

The rain is still driving down butowner Tim Finn (no, not that one)dusts off the gas heater and we sitadmiring our surroundings.

Here again, art is never far from thewine, and sculpture is dotted throughthe winery’s public areas.

It feels more personal seeing thisplace on a wet but calm late winter’s

day rather than with the summercrowds.

Kennedy fires up the gas cooker toprepare delicious hot smoked salmonas we settle in for a lesson in food andwine matching. The rule is there aren’tany rules . . . except for all the rules.

Everything I think tastes goodtogether seems to give everyone elsesome sort of sour-cat expression —except for the Marlborough musselswith the Neudorf pinot gris, whicheveryone agrees is a triumph.

Food matches aside, I’ve fallen inlove with Neudorf’s famous chardon-nay. Anybody who insists chardonnayis yesterday’s grape has never tastedthis.

Hours, possibly weeks, could bewhiled away like this but we have apressing date with Kina Beach winery,a short drive up the road, towards thecoast.

Kina Beach owner Dave Birt,formerly an oil company executive,spent 10 years looking for the rightspot to settle his vineyard — he had a

list of 10 criteria and waited until hefound them all before buying.

Crucial on that list was a coastalbreeze to cool down the fruit comesummer and slow the ripening pro-cess.

And it’s hard to argue with hischoice, the wine is excellent — par-ticularly the pinot noir — and the idyl-lic location is even better.

Birt has also made over an oldschoolhouse on the property into anexclusive, reclusive B&B. It’s the per-fect romantic hidey-hole.

Although within easy reach ofbeaches, wineries and gorgeousplaces to eat, it’s hard to imagine whyyou would tear yourself away from thegorgeous cottage with its beautifulviews from the master bedroom.

The wintry day is getting short sowe head back towards Nelson via thecoastal enclave of Mapua.

Here among the wharfside cafes isthe Coolstore gallery — yes, in whatwas once a coolstore — which exhibitsa range of fantastic paintings,sculptures, ceramics and jewellery.

And it has an excellent opening-hours note on the door which readssomething along the lines of ‘‘openfrom 11ish’’ — life here is, apparently,one endless summer, rain or shine.

— Kerri Jackson was a guest of HeritageHotels and Air NZ