Nelson viewed from the centre of New Zealand, with a view of the glass houses (immediate right) in The Wood Area and far right the Port facilities-complete with the petrol storage tanks.On top of Botanical Hill, overlooking the relaxed sprawl of Nelson in its bay, is a giant needle pointing to the very centre of New Zealand – that's official.Well, according to some officials, anyway. It's where surveyors in the early 1840s decided they would fix the point of origin for all their triangulations, measuring everywhere in Nelson Land District from that precise location. And since the province lies in the middle of the country, naturally they concluded that makes it also the centre of the whole of New Zealand. It's hard to argue with a brass plaque, after all.