Nelson Real Estate

Is Nelson a Dog Walkers Paradise?

If you rate that on beachside, and sandy area play zones then yes we are onto a winner.

For all the pleasure a dog provides to a family, shouldn’t we look after the best interests of “mans best friend.”

I’ve mentioned before the fact that Nelson

has one of the highest tidal ranges [up to 4.6m]

in all of New Zealand, and that affords us an added benefit, that might at first, not be apparent.

Courtesy of the following three [3] factors

1] aforesaid wide tidal range

2] very gentle sloping beaches (as you can see in above photos)

3] plenty of estuarine areas

…..we are blessed not only with fabulous beach/channel side zones to walk the dogs, but because of the very wide tidal range we are also lucky to have a longer part of the day from which to decide to do so.

I mean it takes 6 hours for the tide to come in over hundreds and hundreds of metres of sand ………so its really just a few hours either side of the high tide that there isn’t as much available sand and combination of gentle sloping sandy beaches and estuaries.

The top photos demonstrate that tidal range at the front beach at Tahunanui, which incidentally is “no go” for dogs [see map details end of this article]

but the Back Beach [as in above photo] is just fine……

its a place to meet new friends……and as you can see, there is absolutely tons of space.

When Googles satellites were overhead taking photos of Tahunanui for Google Earth they did me a favour in explaining this to you, because it looks like they have overlapped different days imagery

in the one spot which is very convenient because you can load up Google Earth [currently at least] and actually measure the distance from high to low as an example. In saying hundreds and hundreds of metres, I wasn’t far off the mark.

This is a quick overview of just one of the spots where dogs can roam in Nelson.

Further Reading

Another page mentioning Dog Walking in Nelson.

Nelson City Council Dog Walking Guidelines.

Nelson City Council Dog owner responsibilities.

October 30 2010 | General and Nelson | No Comments »

NZ Remains Middle Earth with Hobbits to be Filmed here

October 28th, 2010

Although there has been heated debate over the last week or so regarding it,

its great news the New Zealand Prime Minister made last night, on the eve of his trip to Vietnam for the East Asian Summit.

We’ve had imposters trying to jostle the production away from NZ and steer it across the ditch,

…… which was a bit concerning seeing as how Warner Bros in fact do have a mighty large investment in that newspapers readership zone.

New Zealand will stay Middle Earth.

In even better news, mirroring what happened with the LOTR Trio, Middle Earth will also host one of the World Premieres.

Locally in Nelson we’ve had more than our fair share of “black helicopters” this year too.

Scouting over maps to work our what terrain would make for fantastic cinematography…..

with some, what looks like, very expensive camera equipment attached too.

The news comes as our Associate Tourism Minister proudly proclaims record earnings for New Zealands tourism sector.

In commenting on the just released  Tourism Satellite Account – 2010 report, Associate Tourism Minister Jonathan Coleman confirmed this morning, that;

Spending by international and domestic tourists increased to $22.4 billion for the year ended March 2010, and that the latest government figures show spending by international tourists in New Zealand increased by 1.6 percent, or $150 million, to $9.5 billion. Domestic expenditure rose to $12.9 billion, a 2.5 percent increase on the previous year.

Dr Coleman went on;

‘’Many countries have experienced a decline in international tourism over the past 18 months, but we have bucked the trend. With the Rugby World Cup next year, the sector will grow even further so things are really looking up.”

One can expect an upturn of movie related fans to top this up as well. all great for our economy. Plus the obvious good news for Real Estate.

Oh….and the relevance of all this to the Nelson Bays region ……..

So its definitely not past the scheme of things, considering we are surrounded here by National Parks like Kahurangi, that we may just feature, like last time, as a location in one of the 2 new Hobbit movies too.

October 28 2010 | General and Nelson and New Zealand and photography | No Comments »

New Real Estate Species Demographic named Down-Under?

October 25th, 2010

Today I start this post with a question ……….do you remember E7?

E7 is & deserves to be……. world famous.

He’s the busy little fellow who made the world record books with his incredible feat of endurance, losing half his body weight during the experience, being…the trip to NZ [Jenny Craig, eat your heart out.]

A feat that science seems to think such that no human could …..ever ever ever match, not even Lance Armstrong**. [see end of article]

Why do E7 and his friends come to the Nelson Bays region  in a direct non-stop flightline of over 10,000kms away……well?

Apparently, part of it is to visit the longest bar in the world…..but that’s definitely another story.

Don’t forget, above it all its obvious that hes a 100% family man….after all…….all this is in the name of food, friends and family!

Now the term “Godwit” has been coined or perhaps more appropriately “borrowed” when referring to its new incantation, a human.

New Species Identified in residence, Nelson, New Zealand

I am aware of more than just a few local home owners who live this type of existence.

However it still came as a surprise to this Tasman Bay man to be confronted by the name that local magazine “Mudcakes & Roses” has dediced they would dub them, “human godwits.”

Photo below depicts some local “Godwits” highlighted in their recent article from Issue 62, October 2010 [page 10]

Frankly, an apt description if there ever was one.

Why “Godwits?”

The term has been coined to describe local home owners who typically have decided to reside in NZ’s sunshine capital, but then… once the cooler days approach, head north for the Northern Hemisphere summer……mirroring the distances traveled by my mate E7 and his buddies.

Stefan Swanepoel take note, could there be another demographic that perhaps drives property buyers to the Antipodes? A trend?

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Mudcakes and Roses

Locally, be reassured that there is definitely a concerted effort to ensure that people of all ages enjoy the lifestyle that present living locals have become accustomed, very accustomed to in fact.

Why should Sixty Five years of age not be celebrated like its the new 45!

Unless something seriously happens I still want to be out there on the Jetski at 80kp/h…..basically because you can and then……..well we’re spoilt that we have the space in our safe Tasman Bay to do so….that’s why!

If you’d like to be kept up to date with current and past editions of this interesting publication (brought to you with thanks to these major sponsors, Tasman District Council, Nelson City Council, Age Concern, Nelson Marlborough District Health Board and Sport Tasman) called Mudcakes & Roses – then just head on over there now.

Be the 1st to admit it, was curious to see what I may look like to others when I am 20 years older than I am now -

then I guess you can imagine my surprise when I discovered that there is already a site for that too……and here above is what  I will appear like if I bump into you 20 years hence…..in 2030!

If you dare……… head over here to the site where you can upload your own photo, then…..while making sure no one else is in the room….view their predictions.

PS – as an end note it wouldn’t be fair of me not to mention the above request from the local editorial staff of Mudcakes & Roses as scanned above.

In fact it would be interesting to hear feedback re relevance to other provinces in this great land.

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** - the claim is that the birds would have gobbled up energy at some eight times their resting basic metabolic rate (BMR) during their week-long exertion, he said. Professional cyclists can only manage about five times BMR for a few hours. “Lance Armstrong would be no competition for these birds,” he said.

BROADBAND USERS – this is exactly the chap I am talking about.

October 24 2010 | Buyers and General and New Zealand and The Market and Uncategorized | No Comments »

NZ Dept of Building and Housing Determinations

October 22, 2010

Like to be kept informed, or more importantly up-to-date with recent decisions by the government department tasked with looking after home-owners.

All the talk these days is about more info to the consumer, and the home situation is turning out to be no different.

Leaky homes, shoddy work practices, dodgy builders, etc someone should keep an eye on these things, but just as importantly publicly advice the citizenry.

Great news, someone does…although by nature of being a “determination”, it is covering events in a retrospective way. So its after the horse has bolted, but better than no notifications at all.

Anyway, the Department of Building & Housing are here on the scene with their Building sub-site to assist with your research.

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Next to what must surely be one of the most popular tabs on their website, “Weathertightness“, you will spot the “Building” one.

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Wouldn’t you consider that this above type of determination result news is worth knowing?

Within the site because you can filter your search three ways………..

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firstly by the actual Building Code clause itself, and secondly……..

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by Subject, a more “english language” friendly version.

And thirdly, by the usual standard search box flavour.

If you yourself want to get regular updates about this stuff – click the above screenshot to be taken to the site where you will find its real easy to subscribe and that way, be amongst the first to know about new determinations.

October 22 2010 | Buyers and General and Mortgages Finance Money | No Comments »

The Worlds First Billion Dollar Home

October 20th, 2010

Inspired by the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Indian billionaire Mukesk Ambani [5^th richest chap in the world - predicted to be the world's richest man by 2014] commissioned Australian company Leighton Holdings to build his dream. Chicago architecture firm Perkins & Will [ who also scribed the Mandarin Oriental] designed the structure to Nita & Mukesks brief.

And some dream it was!

Its situated on an acre [4,532 m2] site at swanky Altamount Road in Cumballa Hill, South Mumbai where  land prices alone top upwards of $10,000m2.

To the home, we have;

400,000 ft2

27 floors

560 ft [173m] high

3 floors of hanging gardens

6 floors of car parking [7^th floor for in-house vehicle maintenance, at last count he had something like 170 cars]

600 full-time staff

50 seat theatre

multiple swimming pools

health spa,

ballroom with crystal chandeliers covering 80% of its ceiling space

an ice room

9 elevators

3 helicopter landing pads

retractable showcase for pieces of art, a mount of LCD monitors and embedded speakers, as well as stages for entertainment

indoor/outdoor bar, green rooms, powder rooms and  “entourage room” for security guards and assistants

more floor space than the palace of Louis XIV Versailles

Finished.

Although Mr Ambani’s company,  India-based petrochemical giant Reliance Industries said it cost U$50-70 million,  various news sources report the final cost of construction to be more like $1 billion or maybe even more.

As you can see above she is now finished with the Ambani family in residence, although Leightons ended up passing on the reigns to another company to finish the build.

You could say its a home with a built-in maths lesson if you ask me.

Related News - other multi-million dollar homes here.

October 20 2010 | Nelson | No Comments »