Our First Full Day In Nelson

Yesterday afternoon we said goodbye to Margaret and Tricia and flew to Nelson, our home for the next 6 weeks.

We took a taxi from the airport to our accommodation, which we had booked several months ago over the internet.  We have a one bedroom self-contained suite, which is located under a fairly new house on Walter's Bluff, about a 30 minute walk from downtown, 70 metres above sea level, overlooking Nelson Harbour.  There are no houses over the road from us, so we get great views of the largest fishing port in Australasia (that's collectively Australia and New Zealand).




In an attempt to lower our carbon footprint and get me in better shape we will only rent a car when we need to travel outside of town, so the first order of business was a walk into town to stock up on groceries.

The trip to town was easy (downhill and an empty backpack), and we stopped at the Maitai river to watch the ducks.




The trip home however was not so easy (uphill with twenty pounds of groceries in our backpacks). The walk is quite similar to the walk from downtown Petone to Margaret's house - an easy twenty minute walk on the flat and then 10 minutes zigzagging through the bush on a series of switchbacks, in this case a small forest of gum trees (no, there are no koala bears in New Zealand).




Today was our first full day in Nelson, and Marlene was not letting me waste any of it.  After 2 1/2 hours of work, we headed into town to go to the farmer's market which is held in a parking lot every Saturday in the summer months.  We stocked up on fruits and vegetables and had a coffee and date scone at the cafe in a local art gallery (recommended by a local store worker and one that we would not have otherwise found) before trudging home with our backpacks only slightly lighter than yesterday.




Another 2 1/2 hours of work, barbequed the sausages, onions and corn for dinner, and then we went for a short (in Marlene's mind) 6,000 step walk further up the hill to the Centre of New Zealand marker - it marks the geographical centre of New Zealand and it just happens to be on the top of a hill close to where we are staying.

I'm looking forward to Monday, so I can use work as an excuse for staying home!!