Driving SH6 from Brightwater to Wakefield | Tasman | New Zealand | 4K

Categories: Tasman Region

Tags: brightwater, driving, new zealand, tasman, wakefield

Added: 2 years ago

Driving SH6 from Brightwater to Wakefield, in the Tasman Region of New Zealand's South Island.

The small settlement of Wakefield is about 25 km south of Nelson. It is a fantastic rural enclave in the Tasman region. The town is central to the region's three stunning national parks - Nelson Lakes, Kahurangi, and the Abel Tasman. Wakefield has a beautiful sense of history, with the Wakefield Primary School being New Zealand's oldest school that's been in continuous use since 1843. The picturesque St John's Church, built in 1864, is New Zealand's second oldest surviving church.

With a pleasant village atmosphere, the settlement is self-sufficient with its small supermarket, cafes, tearooms, pharmacy, hairdressers, doctors' surgery, vets, community library, toy library, hotel, farm stores, and even a police station. The region comprises museums, art and craft galleries, vineyards, and outdoor pursuit facilities.

Brightwater is a town 20 kilometres southwest of Nelson, also in the Tasman district, and situated on the banks of the Wairoa River. The Brightwater Wine and Food Festival has become an iconic event of the Nelson region's summer season. Brightwater was the birthplace of Nobel Prize-winning scientist, the "father of nuclear physics", Sir Ernest Rutherford and the town has an elaborate Lord Rutherford Birthplace memorial on the aptly named Lord Rutherford Road.