B and B in Nelson. (Bed and Breakfast or B & B) accommodation in Nelson, New Zealand: budget tourist lodging guest house with BB plan accommodations

AMBER HOUSE - at the centre!™
Bed and Breakfast Guest House (B&B) in Nelson city centre, New Zealand

When Amber House was built, in the latter part of the reign of Queen Victoria, it stood on the southern shore of Nelson's Haven with fat little Weka running up and down the strand.

Now the vibrant and exciting city of Nelson has grown up and outwards around Amber House, but it remains a peaceful and helpful haven for travellers with all of our city's attractions just a short stroll from our front gate.

Our guests can amble to the nearby Miyazu traditional Japanese gardens and listen to the water bell, take a look at the new wharekai on Whakatu Marae, or simply sit on our verandah and enjoy the fragrance of our irish roses in the front garden.

On Friday afternoons, the Farmers Market is just opposite us in Founders Heritage Park while Saturday morning sees many of our guests off to visit the `World-famous-in-New Zealand' craft and artisan market in nearby Montgomery Square where they mingle with locals poking organic vegetables.

Although crystal chandeliers hang from ceilings more than eleven feet high downstairs, we do have a new 21st Century hot water system, satellite dish, fast wireless Internet and our Balcony Suite and Blue, Rose and Tangerine Rooms all have air-conditioning.

Upstairs, the en-suite Balcony Suite and Blue Room are double glazed and have their own balconies with a view over Tasman Bay to the Arthur Ranges on one side and the Sugar Loaf and Botanical Hill (geographical Centre of New Zealand) from the other balcony.

All our rooms are SPACIOUS - large enough for two Queen Beds and our Green Room is very good value for families and those on a limited budget and willing to share a bathroom.

Balcony Suite, Blue, Rose and Tangerine Room guests compliment us on our hot breakfasts cooked to individual order. Many folks have enjoyed one of our "Ulster Fry"s - or you can just help yourself to fruit any time and from a cold (or `continental' style) buffet breakfast if you`re watching your weight.

Most city buses, the Charabanc and Double Decker city sightseeing tours and all long distance coaches stop right outside Amber House Bed and Breakfast (B & B) Guest House - so you can lie in a bit longer if you're off on a day trip to the Abel Tasman National Park or paragliding that day...We have a garage for Bikes and Kayaks and we grow many of our own vegetables organically in the sunniest place in New Zealand. All water is filtered for low chlorine drinking and bathing and is naturally soft.

We do not allow smoking anywhere on our land. (If you are a Smoker, then the Milton Chalet Motel just down the road would be a good choice of accommodation since they do allow smoking outside some of their budget accommodation units...)
We are not a motel or inn and do not have a reception desk staffed round the clock, so you will need to advise us of your estimated time of arrival when you book (and again if that estimate subsequently changes) so that we can be ready to welcome you.

BB BEDROOMS

Typical prices of our rooms per night (staying more than one night and except in peak season):

Single occupancy from $64 but can go as low as $47
Double occupancy from $89 but can reduce to $65
Double [en suite and air conditioned] from $119 but can reduce to $84
Double occupancy suite [private bathroom, double glazed, air conditioned, local bubbly] $295
Group of 4 persons from $159 but can reduce to $115
[ie from as little as $29 per person per night (pppn)]

Click the individual room calendars to the left to find out the exact price for your stay...

All prices quoted by Amber House Limited are for immediate cash settlement and include breakfast, cold and hot drinks, biscuits together with all applicable taxes, levies and service charges. Tipping is not common practice in New Zealand, "Thank you" is all that is expected - even for exceptional service. (Our prices change dynamically according to demand so, except for the Balcony Suite, there is a peak season supplement of not more than $20 per person imposed for the twenty five weeks preceding 20 April and you will get the cheapest prices the longer in advance you book on-line!)

Our Balcony Suite occupies the entire North-East wing of the top floor of Amber House and is some 486 square feet in total area.

Double glazed French windows open on to twin carpeted and sheltered balconies overlooking our front rose garden with 272 degree views out over Tasman Bay to the (snow topped in winter and spring) Arthur Ranges to the North-west on one side and the Sugar Loaf and Botanical Hill (geographical Centre of New Zealand) 900 metres to the South-East from the other balcony.

Both balconies have clear, see-through zippered awnings that can be lowered and raised on hand-cranked rollers if it becomes windy. The cooked breakfast of your choice can be served either here, on one of your private balconies, or in the downstairs dining room with other guests. We provide a complimentary selection of local wines and fruits, together with a cheese board.

You can either use our guest PC or your own portable computer on our 802.11g and 802.11b wireless internet connection. The Balcony Suite tariff also includes bicycle hire.

The Balcony Suite's bedroom has a Daikin, reverse cycle, inverter air-conditioner built into its East wall for cooling in Summer and heating in Winter. To ensure a peaceful and comfortable rest, all windows throughout the Balcony Suite have noise insulating, double glazing by Koemmerling of Germany utilising low emissivity glass. Argon, an inert gas, fills the glazing gap.

Normally the Balcony Suite has one "Black Maxipaedic firm premium double wool pillowtop posturised sleep system" queen-sized bed. (The Balcony Suite is popular with Honeymooners but is certainly large enough to introduce a second single bed upon at least 24 hours notice.)

Opposite the bed is a small sofa and desk. The TV receives programs from Al Jazeera (in English), BBC World, Central China TV9 (in English), Deutsche Welle (in German and English), Māori TV (in English and Māori), Russia Today (in English) via geo-stationary satellite transmissions together with other local and terrestrial colour television channels and Teletext.

There is a cordless DECT phone next to your bed and a small safe with a digital lock in the closet. We will wash and iron your clothes upon request.

Your private bathroom usually has a fine and restful view of sheep grazing on the ridge in front of the Centre of New Zealand while having a soak. Entry to the Balcony Suite's bedroom is via a small hallway that opens to the additional en suite shower room. This en suite shower room is long and narrow and has another shower, WC and wash hand basin.

Help yourself to coffee, tea, Ovaltine, hot chocolate, Milo, fruit juice, spring water, biscuits, etc., in the downstairs Dining Room at any time.

All guests can also avail of Swedish Massage and Deep Tissue Therapy for a small additional charge.

Our Blue Room is also on the upper floor and is furnished in more modern style with closets, fitted carpet, two seater couch, desk and chair, cordless DECT phone and the highest speed internet connection available in Nelson from Telecom NZ included in the price, together with your own choice of cooked breakfast dishes or a "continental" breakfast - both served in the guest dining room downstairs.

The Blue Room has a Daikin, reverse cycle air-conditioning unit and argon gap, noise insulating, double glazing. Entry and exit to the Blue Room is either via its double glazed French Doors that open to the balcony or via its long and narrow en suite shower, wash hand basin and WC compartment. (We did not wish to move the original walls and room proportions of Amber House, so we have formed en suite ablutions for this bedroom by taking space from an adjacent landing.)

Satellite and Teletext TV programmes are available, together with other local and terrestrial colour television channels. A small safe, with a combination you can set yourself, is provided for your valuables. There is also an alarm clock radio and hairdryer.

Usually the Blue Room has one queen-sized bed with an orthopaedic mattress - but the Blue Room is certainly large enough to introduce a second single bed upon at least 24 hours notice.)

Place your order with Carolina the previous afternoon for a complimentary cooked breakfast of your choice the following morning. Help yourself to the breakfast buffet and coffee, tea, Ovaltine, hot chocolate, Milo, fruit juice, spring water, biscuits, etc., in the downstairs Dining Room at any time. Take fruit from the bowl whenever you fancy.

The Rose Room has eleven foot high ceilings with twin crystal chandeliers and is furnished in late Victorian style. French windows open on to a verandah providing a separate private access to our Irish rose garden at the front.

The Rose Room has fitted carpet and is air conditioned with a Mitsubishi reverse cycle heat pump. It has a dressing table and chair, wardrobe with digital safe, cordless DECT 'phone, alarm clock radio, hairdryer and a 28 inch Fastext/Teletext colour TV. Wireless access to our high-speed internet connection is available free of charge upon request and allocation of a password. A shower, wash hand basin and WC are all in a small en suite compartment.

The Rose Room is spacious and has two Orthopaedic Queen-size beds so, again, a maximum of four persons can be accommodated.

A cooked breakfast of your choice is included in our Rose Room prices - or you may choose to help yourself to a free 'continental style' buffet breakfast at any time between 04:00 and 10:00hrs in the morning. Fruit, biscuits and hot or cold drinks are also available free of charge in the Dining Room opposite at any time.

The Green Room is popular with those on a very tight budget since we have not increased this room's price for 5 years.
We've been able to screw prices down by not including a cooked breakfast in this room's price and by not spending more than $25,000 to install en suite facilities and air-conditioning.

The Green Room is located on the ground floor at the West side of Amber House and there is an external wash hand basin in the corridor outside and a convenient WC under the stairs. There is a shared bathroom upstairs which has sockets for UK, European and US electrical appliances as well as the NZ/Australian standard. Obviously, voltages switch appropriately. This bathroom, shared with the family, is predictably unavailable on school days between 07:20 and 07:58hrs.
[If guests have difficulty climbing stairs, our Rose Room would be the better choice, since that has an en suite shower, WC and wash hand basin.]

Even though it's our budget room, the Green Room is not spartan with fitted carpet, mirror, closet, two chests of drawers and bedside lamps and a two seater couch. It has a fan for hot weather and a fan heater and extra duvet for colder weather, a cordless phone, alarm clock radio, hairdryer, chess set, small colour TV and a small digital safe for valuables. Wireless access to a 802.11g and 802.11b high-speed internet connection is available for a small extra charge.

The Green Room has two Queen sized beds so up to four can be accommodated.

Help yourself to an uncooked breakfast in the adjacent Guest Dining Room any time between 04:00 and 10:00hrs in the morning - it's included in our Green Room prices! ($10 extra per person per day and we will cook your chosen hot breakfast for you.)

Complimentary hot or cold drinks and Anzac biscuits are also available free of charge in the Dining Room at any time.

Overflow Rooms: When Amber House itself is full and if you trust our choice, we have a network of similar hosts (all within the boundaries of the City of Nelson unitary authority) that we can place you with.

Rooms and houses vary but all are clean and comfortable and our friends will make you more than welcome in their tourist lodgings and accommodations...

Maximum occupancy of an Overflow Room is usually 2 people and obviously facilities vary but all will serve you, as a minimum, a continental breakfast.

Usually twin beds with a shared shower room/WC but could sometimes be a double bed with an en suite bathroom...

Sometimes it may happen that, after you have reserved an Overflow Room, we get a cancellation in the main house. In this case, if you have a reservation for an Overflow Room, we may be able to accommodate you in Amber House itself in what we call an "Our Choice Room" at the same price. This is where you let us pick your room - and you are prepared to move rooms during the course of a stay of more than one night. You could get lucky and bag an air conditioned and en-suite room; equally you might end up without air-con and sharing a bathroom. Typically TWO Queen-size beds (but could be one bed if we put you in the Blue Room). Cordless 'phone. Colour TV. Satisfying kiwi breakfast, hot or cold drinks and biscuits included FREE!

NOTE on availability: Although we have 4 guest bedrooms available at Amber House, we don't accept reservations for the main house for more than 4 guests staying at one time. Should a particular bedroom not be showing as available for the entire duration of your planned stay, you may like to book some days in one room and some days in another room that is showing availability. If you then add an appropriate note in the comments field of both of the online booking forms at the time you make both reservations, then, at our discretion and with your agreeement, we may be able to consolidate the two separate bookings so that you spend your whole stay in one room at the cheaper of the two room rates quoted by the online system.

What's the difference between a "Bed and Breakfast" and a full service hotel? Amber House is NOT a stately home or luxurious - we believe you will find us helpful and our Guest House clean and comfortable but we don't do "swanky" or "flunky" or "obsequious" at Amber House.

Popular BB "Accommodation" mis-spellings include: accomadation, accomadations, accomodation, accomodations. Also popular are acomadation, acomadations, acomodation and acomodations.

BB CONTACT

Since the start of this year, 1st January 2010, Amber House has been under the new, professional management of Amber House Limited.

At Amber House, as in New Zealand generally, we speak English but also have some French, German, Spanish, Māori and Fukien Chinese.

Amber House
46 Weka Street
Nelson 7010
New Zealand

In Nelson, it is now:

Click this sentence for our telephone number and e-mail address

A small selection from our BB GUEST BOOK:

[After you have stayed with us at Amber House, please add your entry to our Guest Book. Please visit our other website to write your entry:- AmberHouse.info
On that other website your entry will normally appear unexpurgated or edited by us. Here, below, we only include (slightly edited and re-formatted) highlights some while later...] Adam and Anne Amber

13 Nov 2009
Thank you! Everything was lovely. Room was quiet...
(Kate, Norkoping, Sweden)

08 Sep 2009
Thank you so much for my stay with you. Although Amber House is very charming, you three were definitely the best, most enjoyable part of being there.
(Christina, Auckland)

17 May 2009
The stay was fantastic and I cannot fault the hospitality in any way. Great rooms, good breakfast and a very friendly host. Thank you M.
(Dr B P, Hamilton)

26 Dec 2008
We arrived at Amber House with tons of dirty clothes due to a hard time on a volcano mountain. In less time that it takes to say it, our clothes were refreshed and we could at last wear clean clothes. We had delicious and original breakfasts, and good advices to visit the area. Our pleasant stay in Nelson was mainly related to our hosts' attention. Thank you, friends, for the nice memory we keep from there, and sorry for writing so late: it was a year ago. As you can see, we have never forgotten you.
Erwann, Laure & our 4 children. (from France via Beijing)

12 Dec 2008
I had a great time in Nelson and if I come back to New Zealand I will stay again in the Amber House. It is a wonderful place to stay! Thank you very much for everything.
Stephan, (Switzerland)

29 Mar 2008
Thanks for a great stay including a yummy breakfast! Very helpful and flexible!
The b.y c :-)

23 Mar 2008
Lovely historic building with clean and tidy facilities, very important when travelling. Great hosts and it was great having breakfast before heading out for the day. Many thanks and happy to recommend to other travellers.
Dunedinites - Heather & Diane

08 Mar 2008
Op weg van Kaikoura naar Abel Tasman zochten we een plaats om te overnachten. We zijn uiteindelijk in Amber House beland en vinden het nu (na het prima ontbijtje) best jammer dat we niet meer tijd hebben om langer in Nelson te blijven. We hadden graag vanuit deze stek de omgeving verder verkend. De kamer, het sanitair, de ligging en de gastvrijheid zijn prima en maken een verblijf zeker aan te raden!
Brenda & Paul, (Nijmegen, Nederland)

08 Mar 2008
Muchas gracias por el maravilloso tiempo que tuvimos aqui, me la pase muy agusto, todo en orden, limpieza al por mayor. espero en un tiempo no muy lejano volver a nueva zelanda y con mucho gusto volver a su hogar.
jose carlos morales, (mexico)

08 Mar 2008
Lieber Familie Amber, Herzlichen Dank fuer den phantastischen Aufenthalt in ihrem Hause. Der Service und die gesammte Betreuung war hervorragent. Wir wuenschen ihnen weiterhin alles gute und vielen dank fuer alles.
Ihr Wolfgang Plattner

21 Feb 2008
Thanks for a delightful stay. We enjoyed a comfortable room, a wonderful breakfast, and an excellent recommendation for Nelson's best fish n' chips all with the accommodation of a last minute booking.
Ben (Camp Sherman, Oregon, USA)

09 Feb 2008
very pleasant stay at Amber House. Excellent hosts who made us very welcome. A first rate breakfast set us up for our onward journey. Thank-you,
David and Steven (Manchester, UK)

08 Feb 2008
We are from Vancouver, B.C. and have stayed at Amber House for the last 4 days. We slept very well as the bed was very comfortable and the room was air conditioned. The breakfasts were superb with a good menu. The host and hostess are very pleasant people and informative regarding what to do around Nelson. We have no reservations about recommending Amber House to fellow travellers.
Paul and Doreen (Langley, Canada)

09 Jan 2008
I just wanted to tell you thanks for the hospitality. Amber House was quiet and relaxing, just what we needed after a day of kayaking. We had a wonderful time in New Zealand, in part thanks to you. We wish you best in the new year. Thanks.
Dan & Diana (Indianapolis, USA)

04 Jan 2008
A jolly time all in all. Enormous delicious breakfasts which I didn't have as I can't eat much in the mornings...but if you can you won't need much more to eat all day. The family make for a friendly atmosphere and this splendid establishment is a home away from home. I would always stay here on any future occasions in Nelson..itself a splendid city..just the right size a city should be. A beautiful place with a stunning hinterland.
Cheers, Malcolm Chalmers (Sydney/Brisbane, Australia)

03 Oct 2007
I had a lovely stay at Amber House - in the Rose room - while attending a course in Nelson. (Everyone including the children) were all welcoming and efficient! I especially enjoyed the lovely strawberry pancakes - thanks Mila!! I will definitely stay again when I am in Nelson next year.
Linda.

24 May 2007
Thank you for looking after my mother when she came to visit Nelson. Her weekend there was made all the more special by the kind, caring and generous attention she got at Amber House. She didn't stop talking about her stay. Everything was perfect, the rooms, the food and the fantastic and friendly hospitality. Thanks again. She will definitley stay at Amber House next time she visits Nelson.
(A.S. from Queenstown)

02 Feb 2007
Thanks very much for a lovely stay! I think next time, we'll stay in Nelson more than a day so we can see more of it. You were great about accommodating our crazy "be on the road by 6am" schedule to Tasman Bay. The sandwiches you made for our road trip were perfect! Thanks again for everything!
Kim and Brian (Fresh Kiwis from Washington, D.C.)

13 Jan 2007
Thank you very much for taking us in that late at night. Very nice place and wonderful hospitality! Thanks a lot!
Alexander Graf Stillfried (VENEZUELA)
Danke! Gracias! For it all! Por Todo! (hébergement, nouvelle-zélande, logement, chambre-d'hôte)
Claudia Graefin Stillfried (VENEZUELA)

11 Jan 2007
very nice accomodition made to fee really welcome, great hospitality if my car brakes down again I'll be back to stay here Thanks!
Leah & Connor (aged 2) from Golden Bay

20 Nov 2006
Thanks for a wonerful stay! We really appreciated being able to leve our bikes in the garage - after 2000kms you get kind of attached to them - not that Nelson seems to be exactgly crime ridden anyway, but you know what it's getting like in Toronto these days! Mind you, I still don't think we're as paranoid as our neighbours to the south (wink). We'll try and send you some pictures of our hosue when we get home - you'll see how strange we found it staying ain a a reveresed miror image 20,000kms away. All our love -
Helen and Edgar Kroeger

14 Nov 2006
Fantastic breakfasts, great views and we just couldn't beleive the price. Your'er very welcome to visit uys in Sunnydale any time.
Jim and Cecily, (California)

BB HISTORY

House

A German author, W F Buchholz, has written two articles in the on-line encyclopedia called Wikipedia relevant to Amber House.

The first article is entitled Amber House and the second article is about the "School for young ladies and little boys" that started to operate from Amber House one hundred years ago: Cabragh House School

We have been asked by W F Buchholz if we could place on our website some of our very early photographs of Amber House and the School (that are not in the public domain).

We have agreed to try and do this and we are now beginning to print these old negatives and start scanning the prints into GIF and JPEG files. However, we are still trying to work out a scheme that will not impact too much on our allocated bandwidth since some of the scanned files are more than 20 Megabytes in size. Above and to the right is the first thumbnail of what, at the time this photograph was taken, were two of only three houses in Weka Street. The photographer must have been standing at just about the high water mark of Nelson Haven (before extensive land reclamation formed Neale Park) just over 100 years ago. The bearded gentleman on the verandah is believed to be Mr John P Hornsby, a Nelson accountant at that time, but who had previously worked on the Irish railways.

The second thumbnail is a sepia toned print showing a fetching portrait of the "Cabragh House Singing Group" and it is believed that the then proprietor and headmistress of Cabragh House school, Miss Janetta Hornsby, is in the middle of the back row and her two sisters, Charlotte and Ruth, flank her on either side.This photo is probably contemporaneous with the school bell that was commisioned to celebrate Dominion status for New Zealand more than a century ago that now hangs to the right of our front door.

The third thumbnail is believed to have been taken in 1906 or 1907 by an Australian visitor and was sent in 1982 from Mrs H Haughton of Queensland, Australia. At the right, the (now demolished) spire of the building that is now Paradiso Backpackers is visible and it can be noted that the three canopies over the second storey front windows of Amber House have not yet been constructed. A tall vent pipe is now prominent in front of the Blue Room's window and a (still existing) cast iron soil stack is visible at the north-western corner of Amber House while the pampas grass on the front lawn has been considerably trimmed back.

"...Architectural design of both Cabragh House and the adjoining Amber House indicates a date of construction for both houses somewhere between 1895 and 1905. To support this contention, an original photograph, principally of the two-storey house then numbered as 36 Weka Street, has printed on its reverse "CABRAGH House school & home, Weka Street, Nelson NZ. Late 1890s school started & staffed by Hornsby sisters Charlotte (Lizzy), Ruth & Janetta". Municipal drain layer plans and sheets also indicate a probable date of erection for both houses in early 1897..."

The fourth thumbnail shows a depiction of Miss Janetta Hornsby, her pupils and teachers that is probably contemporaneous with the second thumbnail - but this time obviously taken in the photographer's studio and without the schoolgirls' fetching straw boaters.

The fifth thumbnail is of a photograph that was probably taken in about 1911 since the canopies over the three, second storey front windows have now been constructed and are visible - but there are still no signs of the later second storey balconies. The cabbage tree also seems to have put in a spurt of growth.

The sixth thumbnail features another Cabragh House School group taken in the same photographer's studio as the fourth thumbnail but the date is uncertain - although this may well be the last class photograph taken of pupils before Cabragh House School closed.

Below this, is a thumbnail of a somewhat blurred enlargement of a photograph taken from the vantage point of the "Centre of New Zealand" ridge that lies just to the east of Amber House. This thumbnail references a photograph that is noteworthy because the foreshore of Nelson Haven is clearly visible in the bottom right hand corner - as are the two newly constructed balconies on the second floor of Amber House.
These two observations would date this thumbnail to a date after the armistice signed at Compiègne in La Clairière de l´Armistice ended the Great European War in 1918.

Nelson

Settlement of Nelson began about 1100 years ago by an Indo Malay people (now called Māori but who were originally from Taiwan by way of the island of Negros in the present day Philippines and then via the North West coastal plains of New Guinea and the Cook Islands). There is evidence the earliest human settlements in New Zealand are in the Nelson region.

The earliest recorded iwi in the Nelson district were the Ngati Kuia, Ngati Tumatakokiri, Ngati Apa and Rangitane tribes. However, raids from northern tribes in the 1820's, led by Te Rauparaha and his Ngati Toa, soon decimated the local population and quickly displaced them.

In 1642 the Dutch navigator, Abel Tasman, anchored in what is now called Golden Bay. He was at first pleased to think that he had found part of the legendary great southern continent which the Dutch East India Company had sent him to find but then four of his ship's company were killed by Māori. Tasman called the bay Murderers' Bay and left, never to return, although his statue now stands in bronze at Nelson's Tahunanui beach.

The next European visitors to the Nelson Tasman area were British - Captain James Cook and his crew in the Endeavour. Cook named what is now Tasman Bay, Blind Bay in 1770 but he did not land to explore the area.

Captain Dumont D'Urville in the French corvette Astrolabe was the next known European explorer to visit Nelson in 1827. He stayed, like many of our guests, in the Abel Tasman National Park, just across the bay from Nelson. His anchorage is consequently now known as the Astrolabe roadstead

After several ineffectual attempts in the 1830s to control European visitors and settlers without actually establishing British law in New Zealand, the British government sent William Hobson to New Zealand to claim sovereignty and negotiate a treaty with Māori. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in the Bay of Islands, far to the north of Nelson, on 6 February 1840. The drafting and translation of this landmark document was done hastily and inexpertly, leading to confusion and disagreement that continues to this day. For a long time the treaty was regarded as a legal nullity but nowadays this treaty is regarded as New Zealand's foundation as a nation and is revered by Māori as a guarantee of their rights.

From 1840, European settlers streamed into New Zealand and the New Zealand Company in London planned settlements in the lower North Island and the Top of the South Island. They intended to buy cheaply from the Māori some 200 000 acres (800 square km²) which they planned to divide into one thousand lots and sell (at a considerable profit) to intending settlers.

Arriving in New Zealand, they discovered that the new Governor of the colony, William Hobson, would not give them a free hand to secure vast areas of land from the Māori or indeed to decide where to site the colony. However, after some delay, Hobson (who, like the current inhabitants of Amber House, originated from County Waterford in Ireland) allowed the Company to investigate the Tasman Bay area at the north end of the South Island.

The Company secured from the Māori for £800 a vague and undefined area, but including present-day Nelson, Waimea, Motueka, Riwaka and Whakapuaka. This allowed the settlement to begin, but the lack of definition would prove the source of much future conflict.

The Company selected the site now occupied by the City of Nelson because it had the best harbour in the area. But it had a major drawback: it lacked suitable arable land. The City of Nelson stands right on the edge of a mountain range while the nearby Waimea Plains amount to only about 60 000 acres (243 km²), less than one third of the area required by the Company plans and by September 1841 only about one third of the lots had sold. Despite this the Colony pushed ahead..

The three colony founding ships of Whitby, Will Watch and Arrow sailed from London under the command of Captain Arthur Wakefield and entered Nelson Haven during the first week of November 1841. When the first four immigrant ships (the Fifeshire, the Mary-Ann, the Lord Auckland and the Lloyds) arrived three months later they found the town already laid out with streets, some wooden houses, tents and rough sheds.

The Bombay

The Bombay, an emigrant ship of 400 tons, left Gravesend in Kent on 1st August 1842 mastered by Captain James Moore. The young Dr Samuel Hodgkinson, aged 25 years old was the ship's surgeon for the 134 passengers. Five passengers died and three were born during the long, four and a half month voyage but many attested to the good medical care that they had received, before the barque Bombay arrived in Nelson Haven on 14 December 1842 with relations of the present occupants of Amber House: 36 year old mason, Richard Power and his wife, Eleanor, 35, together with their children: 11 year old Eleanor and 8 year old Mary.

After a short stay in Nelson and Wellington the young doctor continued in the Bombay to Valparaiso in Chile where he joined the General Scott, an American whaler, bound for New Bedford. While in Australia in 1851, he decided to become a runholder in Canterbury. He took up the Deans Peaks and Doctors Hills Stations but, in the latter part of 1852, his health failed and he returned to England.

While in England Hodgkinson did much to encourage prospective emigrants and published pamphlets. He was instrumental in persuading William Rolleston to emigrate to Canterbury and he himself returned to New Zealand in 1857, settling in Parnell, Auckland.

Two years later he visited Southland where, in 1860, he acquired the Mount Fairfax Station near Riverton. From 1864 until 1870 he was a member of the Southland Provincial Council and, as a convinced provincialist, Hodgkinson opposed Southland's reunion with Otago.

In 1868 he published Provincialism versus Centralism, a pamphlet upholding the provincial system. On 7 January 1876 he was elected member of the House of Representatives for Riverton. In Parliament he supported Sir George Grey on the provincial question, because he considered that abolition would deprive people of their opportunities to participate in local government. He was a powerful advocate for a wastelands policy to encourage closer settlement by 'immigrants of good character, both of the working and employing class', and which would also provide sufficient revenue to run the province. In 1888 he published Some Suggestions on Reform of Local Government and Decentralisation of Parliament, and advocated introducing the Canadian federal system. He favoured an elective executive and, on one occasion, failed to carry the proposal in the House by the narrow margin of two votes.

Although not a supporter of the liquor party, he was interested in the licensing question; however, he opposed the then current prohibition ideas on the grounds that these involved an infringement of personal liberty. Hodgkinson died at Richmond Grove, Southland, on 10 January 1914, leaving two sons and two daughters and just a few years short of becoming a centenarian.

On Nelson Anniversary day (Monday, 4 February 2008) a memorial wall was unveiled to these and other early emigrants at Wakefield Quay)

Because in the 1841 migration the steerage was occupied almost entirely with free emigrants, the Examiner recorded with some satisfaction that these immigrants aboard the Bombay had "paid their passage and have the means which will enable them to farm on a small scale. Every man of this class we consider an acquisition to the settlement; and we feel assured that the moderate price at which some of the best suburban sections can be rented will insure to those who work in the right way the most ample return"

Within eighteen months the Company had sent out eighteen ships with 1052 men, 872 women and 1384 children. However, fewer than ninety of these first settlers had the capital to start as landowners.

The pressure to find more arable land became intense. To the south-east of Nelson and over an intervening mountain range lay the wide and fertile plains of the Wairau Valley. The New Zealand Company tried to claim that they had purchased the land. The Māori owners stated quite adamantly that the Wairau Valley had not formed part of the original land sale and made it clear they would resist any attempts by the settlers to occupy the area. Nelson settlers led by Arthur Wakefield and Henry Thompson attempted to do just that. This resulted in the Wairau Affray, wherein twenty-two settlers died. The subsequent Government enquiry exonerated Māori and found that the Nelson settlers had no legitimate claim to any land outside of the Tasman Bay area.

As early as 1839 the New Zealand Company had resolved to "take steps to procure German emigrants" and appointed a Mr Bockelman as agent of the Company in Bremen. At one stage the Company made an agreement in principle to sell the Chatham Islands to the Deutsche Colonisations Gesellschaft but were thwarted by the British Government! However, Lord Stanley did agree to make the German colonists instant British subjects upon arrival in Nelson after being vetted in Hamburg first.

Most of the 140 German immigrants who arrived on the ship Sankt Pauli and formed the nucleus of the villages of Sarau (now known as Upper Moutere) and Neudorf were Lutheran Protestants with a small number of Bavarian Catholics. The trip had lasted 176 days during which time four young children had perished, seven couples had been joined in Holy Matrimony, one baby had been born and two passengers had jumped ship at a reprovisioning harbour. In 1843, the first Polish settlers were the Subritzky family. Matriarch Sophie Subritzky arrived with her extended family, and they settled for a time with the German immigrants at St Paulidorf in the Moutere valley. Ranzau was another town with high numbers of German immigrants near Nelson, being renamed Hope in 1914, but retaining the name Ranzau in several features in the town: Ranzau Road, Ranzau School, Ranzau Lutheran Church and Ranzau cemetery.

After a brief initial period of prosperity the inherent problems of lack of land and capital caught up with the Nelson settlements and they entered a prolonged period of relative depression. Organised immigration ceased until the 1850s and labourers had to accept a cut in their wages by one third. By the end of 1843 artisans and labourers began leaving Nelson and by 1846 a quarter of the immigrants had moved away.

The early settler community had a wide range of scientific, literary, farming and entrepreneurial talents and education was a high priority for Nelson settlers. Even before the settlers set foot on New Zealand, the first New Zealand scientific and literary societies had been formed on board the Nelson-bound ships and, just 14 years after European settlement began, Nelson College was founded - the first state school in the new colony. Nelson College's most famous scholar was Ernest Rutherford who became 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, OM PC FRS - the Nobel prize winning "father of nuclear physics". Another pupil was Charles Munro who is credited with introducing rugby football to New Zealand - the first match being played just a few hundred yards from Amber House 1870. (The first recorded cricket match in Nieuw Zeeland also took place a few yards from Amber House in 1844).

In 1862, the discovery of copper and chromite on the Dun Mountain (visible from our upstairs bathroom) saw the construction of the first railway in New Zealand built to carry the diggings to the port. (Now the track has been ripped up, it's an exhilerating walking trail and exciting mountain bike track). In 1872 construction of the Nelson to Foxhill Railway began - but New Zealands first railway's hard won links with the other lines through difficult surrounding mountainous terrain and achieved with the labour of many Chinese and Italian navvys in 1891, were severed in 1955.

Although the settlement of this region was led by immigrants from Britain and Ireland, other nationalities soon followed and our region quickly developed distinctive cultural pockets. In the 1870s, Premier Julius Vogel extended immigration assistance to southern Europeans. The government hoped to boost the growing nation with settlement, public works and forest clearing. Most of the 230 town workers who responded to the lure of free passage came from Livorno in Tuscany. They arrived between 1875 and 1876, unprepared and unsuited for the hard labour that awaited them. The first group began work on the Featherston railway, but were dismissed within a month because of disputes. The government promptly stopped assisting Italian immigrants, claiming: "they have proved utterly unfit for the work of colonisation".

In 1881 the first formal barriers to immigration were set up, to hold back Chinese immigrants. The Chinese Immigrants Act of 1881 imposed a poll tax of £10 per Chinese person and restricted the numbers able to enter the country to one person per ten tonnes of ship cargo. In 1896 the tax was lifted to £100 per person and there were further restrictions on the numbers of Chinese able to enter New Zealand. In 1908, Chinese people had to put a thumbprint on their Certificates of Registration before leaving the country - no other ethnic group had to leave thumbprints. Chinese people were deprived of their right to naturalisation in 1908 and this was not rescinded until 1951 - no other ethnic group was deprived of this right. A reading test in English was introduced - other immigrants had only a writing test in their own language. Even in 1935 when entry permits were introduced after a suspension of 15 years for reunification of family and partners of Chinese people, they were severely restricted. On Wednesday, February 13, 2002, Prime Minister Helen Clark apologised to the Chinese New Zealanders who paid a poll tax and suffered other discrimination imposed by statute and to their descendants. She hailed the Chinese community in New Zealand as a "significant contributor" to New Zealand. "Modern New Zealand has a bicultural foundation, and today is home to many peoples. It is important that we value, honour and respect all our communities and see our diversity as a great strength," she said.

By the 1920s, it became harder for anyone who was not British to get in. Russians, Italians, Japanese, Africans - people from all over the globe faced restrictions. There was a "White New Zealand" policy in practice, if not in name. However, at the end of the nineteenth century, after a steady tightening of immigration policy, government policy relaxed a little and allowed southern Europeans to nominate relatives up to the level of first cousin cosanguinity. Pathfinders would encourage their family to come, finding them work and lodgings (and sometimes the price of the passage). Over time, close-knit communities developed, sharing bonds of kinship and a common village or region back in Europe. Giacomo Persico, of Massa Lubrense near Naples in Italy, came to Nelson in the early 1900s, and a smaller chain of immigrants, originating in Potenza began in 1915. These two Italian groups settled in our area of "The Wood", which became a major tomato-growing area, although many of the glasshouses have been taken down in the last few years as central city land became too valuable and Nelson City Council relaxed the regulations on the sub-division of plots.

The first Italian to reach New Zealand shores had been Antonio Ponto, who sailed on the Endeavour with Captain James Cook in 1769. One of the earliest settlers was Salvatore Cimino, a shipping trader from Capri who arrived about 1839. He was married twice, to New Zealand women, and had close ties with Māori, including Te Rauparaha.