Nelson (Mandela house would of been better!)
Trip Start
Jul 27, 2008
1
58
63
Trip End
Jan 21, 2009
Nelson,
South Island,
New Zealand
Monday, January 5, 2009
Yes can you believe it; we have less than two weeks to go - crazy!
Our first port of call - Nelson, the sunniest place in New Zealand. Getting here though was a mission. The ferry across was packed to the rafters and was the average size of Ipswich!! Heather had remembered to take her sealegs although the water was very smooth.
After a short stop in Picton it was another few hours on the big green bus to the sea side town of Nelson. As independent travellers, Heather and I like to go our separate ways from the Kiwi bus kids when it comes to accommodation. Sometimes this proves to be a great idea, a quiet, clean and cosy place with helpful staff is the travellers dream. Unfortunately, this was our nightmare. We were dropped off at a dilapidated hovel called Bumbles; home to the roughest, skankiest, gang members in New Zealand!! The characters who greeted us were horrendous. We dare not make eye contact with them and so after checking in we hid all our belongings and scarpered into town.
The town centre itself was gorgeous and was reminiscent of a European city, dominated by an English built Cathedral. Shopping was high on the agenda as Nelson is a real shopping haven and its claim to fame is that Peter Jackson had the 'one' ring made here at a place called Jens Hansen and the ring is displayed in the shop (although they don't like you taking pictures of it in the shop then walking out!)
After wandering if we were going to have our room broken into overnight we awoke to another beautiful day in Nelson. We decided to walk to the geographical centre of New Zealand which was situated at the summit of a rather steep hill just out of the centre. Whilst the views at the top were spectacular with valley and sea views, the walk nearly killed us - after six months of down-time fitness is severely hampered these days!!
After surviving another night (we actually slept so well at Bumbles despite being the local half way house) we ventured into Nelson's surrounding city parks which are beautiful as is the wildlife and plant life - stunning!
We split most of our time in Nelson between shopping, sunbathing and sorting out our lives back home. We are both sad and excited about coming home - WE MISS YOU ALL!! And living out of a backpack is starting to take its toll.
Our last port of call was the Nelson lakes just before departing to Westport. This place was truly amazing with postcard perfect scenery round every corner. Already we can see a major difference between both Islands with the North more built up and the south much more rural and scenic.
Well, enjoy the pictures from our new camera: only the best piccys for our loyal viewers!
Kia Ora
J & H xx
