Nelson: Where the art is

By COLIN MOORE

Affable Roy Thompson of Bay Tours makes his first stop at a 1920s Nelson cottage that houses the Bead Gallery.

He says the ladies in the van will enjoy the bead shop. I didn't know bead shops existed until I went into one in Hawaii a few weeks before. It sold beads from everywhere - but not nearly as many varieties as the Nelson gallery.

I didn't buy anything in Hawaii because I could only find exotic trinkets from other countries. They were there in Nelson, too, including jars of "Maori" bone fish hooks ground out by the thousands in the Philippines.

But in Nelson's bead shop I bought pendants sculpted in clay, made in Nelson. In Nelson I drank wine grown and vinted in Nelson, ate seafood caught in Nelson waters and dined Italian at the trendiest of cafes with the chic to call itself Lambretta's and theme its decor on the legendary motorscooter.

Chic is something Nelson does very well. Perhaps it is all that Mediterranean sunshine the area receives. Even the regional tourism office shows its distinction with the name Latitude Nelson.

And Nelson has quite cleverly found a theme for its region that sets it apart from any other in the country. Art.

To quote local ceramic artist Christine Boswijk, "Art should be available in its own place. There is a significance when visitors have a feeling for the landscape, the local culture and the people who make the art."

You'll find Boswijk's studio at the end of a winding country road on a hillside overlooking the Waimea Estuary.

You'll have to tiki-tour the region to visit other artists' studios, which is of course the idea of art in its own place. But there is much more to this ingenious concept than studio art, or gallery art, or vocal arts or performing arts.

A golden sand beach is art in its own place. So is the beauty of Nelson Lakes National Park, a succulent wine vintage, a cafe proud of its gourmet food, or a huge and stately matai tree, many hundreds of years old that has managed to survive the bushman's axe because it grows in such an awkward gully.

To get to see it may not be art but it is a lot of fun, four-wheelin' fun.

The tree and the four-wheelers belong to Happy Valley Adventures, a motorised eco adventure company10 minutes north of Nelson. Here Keith Anderson and Jill Peteson decided to farm people on their 650ha paradise that overlooks Tasman Bay. So they left the bush to regenerate on the hills, discreetly extended the farm road network, and bought a bunch of four-wheel farm bikes so tourists could get close to the bush and that giant matai.

If it's a clear day when you stop for a cuppa at the Delaware Bay lookout you will be able to see Abel Tasman National Park, Farewell Spit, the Mt Arthur Ranges and even Mt Taranaki.

And if riding on a narrow trail up hill and down dale isn't enough excitement then you can end with a blat around three laps of a fun track at the end of the tour.

Thompson's tour is more sedate, although no less fun. He began his van tours of the Nelson region because his wife reckoned he was such a great talker he should put it to good use.

He takes us to the Pumpshed Pottery where Peter Stewart creates artwork in clay and trains racing greyhounds. I buy a bowl decorated with sculptured fish.

At Hoglund Art Glass we watch Ola Hoglund and several of his acolytes create beautiful shapes from molten glass before we stop at the Moutere Hills Vineyard for lunch in the woolshed that Simon and Alison Thomas have converted into a boutique winery.

Thomas used to be a chemistry teacher before he decided to create a bit of art in its own place. He sells every drop from the vineyard or by mail order.

There is a healthy bunch of winemakers in the region and they don't feel in the least inferior to their better known cousins across the hills in Marlborough.

Thompson finishes our day at the Kahurangi Estate, one of the first in the region. The original estate cottage, nestling among the vines and only a grape pip from the Tasman Bay coast, has been restored as a luxury self-contained villa with every mod-con, including an office with computer, fax and e-mail.

You can relax here surrounded by art, wine, fruit, seafood and nature for $290 a night for two people.

And if the office bothers you, just say you are doing some research on art in its own place.