According to the local paper, the Nelson Mail, Welsh tourist & backpacker Tim Bow likes garage sales. Using the words of the papers reporter, it would seem he even appears to have “a passion” for it.
Well it looks like this passion has really paid off for the traveler this time around.
Antiques Roadshow would have a simple antipodean believe that in smalltown NZ, only 200 year old Aoteroa, there just aren’t any surprises left to be found?
...this is the cover of the book he found in a box.....
Well this Welshman found one, locally, last weekend.
...and inside this book, in this $5 box of books, he found this.....
Here’s the kicker….
He bought the book as part of a $5 pile of books in the sale, but hoped to sell it for much more.
Is he on the right track here?
Well..….with still three days still to go on his auction site listing…his $5 investment is sitting there on the Trademe auction site, as of last glance, at a “not too unhealthy bid level” of NZD$1500.
Interesting to see he is thinking of the Commonwealth too, after Trademe user “Vat” asked Tim, whether he thought USA based Ebay would have given him a better shot of the $$$……
Tim replied above….
Perhaps even, the Enid Blyton society may look “downunder.” As a youngster I read all the books, and absolutely loved them all. Today….all of them put together would probably account for the first half of the first episode of some Xbox/Playstation shoot’em up.
But….. back then, they let your imagination do what it was really meant too!
Sunday, even apart from this Indian Summer weather we are all finding “most enjoyable”, should be an interesting day.
UPDATE 10:15am 27-04-2012 – bidding now at NZD$3260!! I’m thinking everyone will be checking books at yard/garage/boot sales just a little bit more thoroughly now? Lets hope they are genuine bids.
UPDATE: 8:16pm 29-04-2012 – seems the gene pool has again been hammered tonight, after it eventuated that the winning bid was reduced to NZD$1510. Perhaps a spell on Ebay may have been worth a hit.
Certainly looks like the act of moving from one location to another could be just a tad easier this way though, certainly when compared with what goes for “the norm” in a typical terrestrial based abode relocation?
But alas, like all good things….there is another tale to tell about these photos. It seems this “floating home” was part of an exhibition, albeit a river based one stretching many many kms.
This photographer bloke, Christophe Dedieu, has previously taken photos of some interesting things. And me, being a photography passionate person, his efforts didn’t escape me.
As I mentioned last week there’s ways, other than just reading here or my twitter feed, that you can keep up to date with happenings in the Nelson bays region of New Zealand.
First up its the paper that heralds itself on “only good news reporting”, perhaps a first in newspaper publishing?
The Nelson Weekly (click link below for latest edition)
The Nelson Weeklyis delivered free to householder letterboxes each week.
Not forgetting our southern cousins, next up for free public consumption is the Waimea Weekly,
The Waimea Weekly – click below for latest edition
actually a paper that was started before the Nelson Weekly….The Waimea Weekly was the original in the region that proudly proclaiming itself to be all about “good news.”
Looks like another world record is about to be broken, and it appears at first that Nelson, New Zealand is the loser. But Nelson, New Zealand is also the winner.
Confused, let me explain.
I’ve previously reported here, that Te Waikoropupu Springs (“Pupu Springs”) in Golden Bay, holds at 63m, the current world record for underwater visibility. In other words the clearest water in the world.
CREDIT - Mark Gall NIWA
Well it looks like the Nelson region is about to lose its world record title to another part of the globe with a press release from NIWA today 18th December 2011.
Nelson-based NIWA hydrologist Rob Merrilees first recognised that Blue Lake might be optically outstanding, having observed on tramping trips that this water body appeared broadly similar to Te Waikoropupu, in which a visibility of 63 metres has been reported. He mentioned his suspicions to NIWA aquatic optics specialist, Dr Rob Davies-Colley, who had led the original work on Te Waikoropupu Springs. On a preliminary tramping visit to Blue Lake in March 2009, the two Robs were surprised to find that the visibility of Blue Lake exceeded that of Te Waikoropupu.
They subsequently organised a scientific study of the lake with involvement of NIWA scientist Mark Gall, an expert in ocean optics instrumentation. Several visits by helicopter (six in all) established that the horizontal visibility in the lake typically ranges from 70–80 metres.
That’s right, didn’t just beat 63m, they really trumped it!
“The theoretical visibility in distilled water is about 80 metres, as estimated from the best available instrumental measurements in the laboratory,” says Dr Davies-Colley. “So Blue Lake is a close approach to optically pure water”.
Where, well it just so happens that its at Nelson’s Blue Lake, up at the Nelson Lakes National Park so although we lose one title, we just picked up another.
That now means that here in little ole Nelson, the “Top of the South” of the South Island, of New Zealand (“Middle Earth” to many) now holds the Gold, and Silver when it comes to the clearest water in the world.
You can visit this area yourself, and stay overnight in the region, something that NIWA & DOC (NZ’s Department of Conservation) have stated;
Blue Lake is a side trip off the popular Travers Sabine Circuit multi day tramp.
The Blue Lake Hut receives in excess of 700 trampers a year, mainly through the summer months.
Numbers will be monitored to see if visitation increases.
The clarity of the lake will remain monitored to establish if there are any changes in the next year or two.
The waters of Blue Lake/ Rangimairewhenua are sacred to Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō iwi. The significance to them was acknowledged in their Treaty of Waitangi settlement signed in 2010.
The Department of Conservation would ask that the waters are respected and that people don’t wash themselves or their clothes or dishes in the lake.
Courtesy of it being the clearest, it could also be the cleanest water in the world?
Maybe not at present as NIWA mention in their press release today that;
“Because of the heavy rain in the Nelson region over the last few days, the lake is likely to be murky right now, but may be expected to clear within a few days.”
They also mention another couple of factoids that may greatly assist this body to have the clearest water on the planet.
The spring-fed source of the water, and its altitude above sea level (1200m), just below the tree line of stunted mountain beech, ensures that Blue Lake is always cold, ranging between 5 and 8°C.
NZ Media website www.stuff.co.nz picks up the story, but I believe, goes one better in releasing an outstanding photo (again from NIWA) which hints at illustrating the cleanest water on the globe at present. Just breath takingly beautiful I suggest.
FURTHER UPDATE -22:30hrs
Although at first the Nelson Mail didn’t quite see the gravity of the situation…
CREDIT: THE PRESS TUESDAY 20th DEC 2011
…. The Press did recognize the significance of the occasion.
