Kevin's Guide to Nelson, New Zealand - Photo of Tahunanui Beach, Nelson

Tahunanui Beach, Nelson

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For details on points of interest, landmarks, etc., scroll down the page.

Photo of Tahunanui Beach, Nelson, New Zealand

Landmarks etc. in photo of Tahunanu Beach, Nelson, New Zealand

1	Main beach, Tahunanui, with the Tahunaui Sports field (the large grassed area) to the left. Very popular in summer with safe swimming, but watch out for the sunburn. The large white area among the trees [to the right of the number 1 in the index photo], is the roof of the Skating Rink (roller skates - skates available for hire).
2	Rocks Road, built by convict labour at the end of the 19^th Century, forms part of State Highway 6 which runs from Blenheim down the West Coast, to Invercargill. Here, it follows the coast line, and just off the right hand edge of the photo is where the first Settlers landed in Nelson in the early 1840's. The centre of Nelson is only about 7 minutes away (to the right) along Rocks Road, just past the main wharf.
3	The dark green area here is the Tahunanui Beach Motor Camp - one of the largest motor camps in the southern hemisphere with about 2,000 camp sites, motel units, conference centre, supermarket etc. Behind, is the eastern end of the Moutere Inlet, one of the largest tidal mudflat/wetland areas in New Zealand (seen here at high tide)
4	Nelson golf course, with the northern end of the main runway at the airport just visible on the very left hand edge of the photo. Not normally this brown - the photo was taken at the height of a drought.
5	Just visible on the horizon is Mt. Owen in the Kahurangi National Park, about 2 hours to the south-southwest of Nelson. Has a large limestone cave network below it.
6	Just visible on the horizon in the edge of the photo is Mt. Arthur in the Kahurangi National Park, just over an hour away from Nelson to the west. The Nettlebed caving system is below Mt. Arthur, which are thought to link up with the caves under Mt. Owen, which would make it one of the larest caving systems in the world.
7	Rabbit Island. About 25 minutes from the centre of Nelson, this low-lying, flat, 8km long sandy island is covered with pine forest and the beach front makes for popular, safe swimming. The Moutere Inlet runs behind Rabbit Island towards Motueka.

For more on Tahunanui Beach, it's history, erosion problems etc., go to http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~sissons/.

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