Nelson

Looking Out Over The Valley

Darren and myself departed Wellington and the North Island of New Zealand and headed via a 3 hour boat trip over to the scenic South Island. We had been pre-warned that the ferry trip across would probably be fairly rough even on clear days but actually it was a smooth ride. The boat departure was delayed by an hour of course and we had a bus picking us up from Picton (the drop off point) and taking us on. Our bus was due to depart an hour after we were supposed to get in, so with our delay it became a mad rush off the boat to get on our onward transportation. It's not easy running for a bus with a bag straped across your back that basically weighs about as much as a small African elephant. We did made the bus though.

It was then a two our ride across the scenic views of the Marlborough region (New Zealand's wine capital) and over to Nelson. From there we checked into The Palace Backpackers, owned by a distant cousin (Lili and Cliff's son) who kindly put Darren and myself up for a couple of nights. The hostel is an old English style mansion with heaps of character - at least almost as much as David himself. I would like to thank him for his hospitality, the bar crawl night out and his many interesting stories.

On the one full day Darren and I had in Nelson - we spent it checking the town out. Nelson is a bustling town and a gateway to the South Island's northwestern coastal region to which we were not actually heading to. We did manage to catch the saturday market - buy great fudge and then consume most of it while walking around the town.

The park-land around Nelson is particularly scenic and a short walk east and you can reach the botanic gardens. The gardens provide some steep walking tracks for great views over the Maitai Valley and then continue to the top of a hill for views over the city. From the top of this hill a statue and plaque are emplaced claiming that this very spot is the very center of New Zealand. How they have calculated this, with the fact that NZ is split into two - i'm not quite sure, but if thats what the sign says then who am I to argue.

We left Nelson (and David) the following day. We were heading down the southwestern arm of the South Island and our first stop.... was Franz Josef.