Top of the South Island, NZ
Every year, we meet up with friends Mike and Georgina and go exploring, mainly road trips. It has been a few years since any of us has spent any time at the top of the south island and in the case of Jennie and me, it was 2001 since we last visited the Golden Bay area! We flew to Nelson from Auckland, picked up a rental SUV and collected our friends from Wellington when they flew in a few hours later.
Before heading north west to Golden Bay, we all wanted to visit the world-class World of Wearable Arts (WOW) and automotive museum in Nelson. WOW is a spectacular annual fashion show of wearable arts held in Wellington, but which has its roots in Nelson where some of the past entries from around the world are on show. The weight of some of the costumes must challenge the models on the catwalk! It certainly didn't disappoint. The level of detail on all the costumes was unbelievable.
The automotive side of the museum was just as spectacular with great care taken over the presentation of a lot of exhibits. There was a huge mix of vehicles from everyday family cars to absolute exotica. Take the Cord roadster shown below as an example of being superbly displayed:
Before heading north west to Golden Bay, we all wanted to visit the world-class World of Wearable Arts (WOW) and automotive museum in Nelson. WOW is a spectacular annual fashion show of wearable arts held in Wellington, but which has its roots in Nelson where some of the past entries from around the world are on show. The weight of some of the costumes must challenge the models on the catwalk! It certainly didn't disappoint. The level of detail on all the costumes was unbelievable.
Jennie and Georgina outside WOW entrance with a Plymouth Prowler
Some of the WOW exhibits
Errr... a bit of a weight to model on the catwalk!
Spectacular colours
Great use of black walls and mirrors
Stunning detail
A tad disturbing.....
Just brilliant!
The automotive side of the museum was just as spectacular with great care taken over the presentation of a lot of exhibits. There was a huge mix of vehicles from everyday family cars to absolute exotica. Take the Cord roadster shown below as an example of being superbly displayed:
Magnificent setting
1955 BMW Isetta with a 250cc single engine
A pink Cadillac - thanks Mr Springsteen!
Wolseley 6/110 - this is what Jennie and I did our courting (quaint word) in!!
1960's Austin Healey 3000 - still looks magnificent
I want one!!!!
Yes indeed, Mr Powers!
Arty-farty shot of the front of a 1915 Stutz Bearcat racer
Pure sex or what????
Ultimate trans-continental luxury - Maybach saloon
There was only a small display of bikes but a couple of them were quite rare (and ill-fated!). The first was the Ducati-powered Bimota Tesi from the early 1990's. It had centre hub steering and from memory, only 150-odd were ever built.
Ducati Tesi front end - not the prettiest front end ever
Another Bimota on display was the Bimota V-Due V4 500 cc 2 stroke. Released in 1997, rare as hen's teeth and it was also the bike which sunk Bimota. A brilliant concept but a combination of both mechanical and electrical problems, selling price and EPA emission laws largely reduced them to static exhibits. However, aftermarket upgrades are available which have apparently fixed the problems for the handful of loyal owners who didn't pass them on at the first opportunity to some wealthy sucker!
The ill-fated Bimota V-Due
A famous racing name and early road bike version
After a few well-spent hours of drooling down our shirts, it was time to get on the road and travel the 2 hours over the Takaka Hill to Golden Bay for the next part of our adventure.
