WOW, Hair Washing

Friday 4th November
Daily Mileage 87
Cumulative Mileage 1,091

Another early start as we were due to catch the 9am Interislander ferry from Wellington for the 3hr trip to Picton where we were picking up another rental car and driving 2 hours to Nelson. Dartrey kindly offered to give us a lift to the ferry terminal.

The trip took 3 hours, our new rental car turned out to be exactly the same as our old one, even the same colour. We sped off as we wanted to get to the WOW museum in Nelson. It was 2.5 hrs drive away, it was already 1pm and it shut at 5pm. We made up a bit of time even though the roads were very twisty and turny and arrived around 3pm. We had our customary cuppa and dived into the museum. WOW stands for the World of Wearable Art & Classic Cars Museum. It was recommended to us by a couple of old work colleagues; and it was a good tip, we loved it. The fashions were whacky and pretty way out, but interesting to look at. I couldn’t imagine ever wearing any of the creations, but I don’t think that was what it was about, it was more about the creativity and interpretation of something rather than the wearability. I found the classic cars the most interesting, I just love classic cars. They had loads there, real old vintage cars from the 1900’s right up to cars from my youth in the 1970’s. It seems so strange that cars I remember are classics. There was a Triumph Herald 1200 which was my first car, except mine was sea green and theirs was red. There was also a Ford Anglia which I remember my Dad had and we used to travel everywhere in it. His was a pale blue and my Aunty Beryl and Uncle Roy had a navy one. We all used to travel around together in them. There was the car from the film ‘Christine’, a gorgeous fire red Plymouth Fury. Typical the one thing that gets the same name as me has to be a car in a horror film! Still I took photos of it and may change my Facebook picture to it and see if anyone makes the connection. Some of the 1950’s American cars were just fab. It’s incredible how long they were, I can’t imagine parking them in the supermarket car park they would stick out a mile. Every car there was in immaculate condition, all gleaming and shining as if they were new. They had been lovingly and carefully restored very sympathetically to original colours etc. Most of the cars had a synopsis of their history on a notice by the car which was very interesting. I glazed over when it talked about the mechanics of the car but found the bits about where the car was found and how it was restored of much more interest. Eventually a member of staff came round to tell us they were closing so we jumped into our car and sped to our bed for the night. We have struck gold again! We are staying at Joya Villa and Studio. It is run by Paulina, a lady from the Netherlands who came to NZ 16 years ago and teaches autistic children in a revolutionary way. The villas are immaculate and come complete with a kitchenette and lounge as well as music and tv. The back garden is long and slopes steeply down, our villa is a log cabin about 2/3’s of the way down, Janet’s villa is on higher ground above ours with views of a stream and a lawn with a circular timber table surrounded by circular timber seating. Our villa looks out over a pond that dwarfs even our lake! It has a little stream running into it and an island with a drawbridge which apparently the children just love. The roof of our villa is a living roof of succulents which at the moment are in flower and look lovely, Janet can see our roof from her villa. We strolled into town – about 12 minutes to a pub – the Vic where we had a lovely meal. It’s another early start tomorrow, we have to be on the road by 7am to drive back to Kaikoura, about 3.5hrs away to go whale watching – I am seriously excited about that. Janet is getting in a bit of a panic about the early starts as she has to plan her hair washing. Does she have enough time in the morning or should she wash it the night before and risk going to bed with damp hair and waking up with vertical hair. Such a dilemma. We reminded her that we will be on a boat at sea tomorrow so it is likely to get wet with sea water and be blown around. Everyone’s hair will be a bit of a mess by the end of the day. She nodded and agreed that she would be better to wash it tomorrow night. Sorted! (I didn’t tell her we are at sea again the following day swimming with dolphins, I’ll remind her of that tomorrow).Read more