Nelson

Good Morning,

It's raining outside, so I'm taking advantage of the weather and writing you another post. For this one, I'm taking you on my tour of Nelson. Nelson is on the northern tip of the South Island and is the gateway to Golden Bay. A part of the South Island that has the most hours of sunshine in New Zealand and is definitely a very pleasant place to be. Nelson is a pretty big city (even by non-New Zealand standards) with a big art and culture scene and a cozy vibe. There are no high-rises or huge buildings, but there are houses next to houses and hills next to hills. My campsite was a little outside the actual city center and was right by the sea. The view was fantastic and the weather did me a favor again and let the sun shine all day long.

After a short walk to the bus stop and public transport, I went into the city center. The super friendly employee at the campsite gave me a few tips on what I could do in the city in a day and I took them all and did them. At the top of my list was a visit to the Suter Art Gallery. It is full of various art and is also completely free.

On the way out of the gallery, the smell of waffles lured me into the café there and I could not resist the urge and craving for waffles or pancakes and treated myself to a waffle in the small, sweet café.

The gallery is located directly within the Botanical Garden and so, refreshed, we set off along the cute little paths of the garden and over one or two pretty bridges.

While I was strolling around there, I kept heading towards the centre of New Zealand. On the way, I met another witness of climate change and read the information signs by the river. I didn't want to go swimming here, but I read the signs anyway - progress. ;)

The centre of New Zealand is on a hill in the middle of Nelson and so the view from here is really good. The centre is not the real centre of the country but is the point from which the country was surveyed - i.e. the absolute 0 point.

After this short exertion, I headed back to the city and wandered around somewhat aimlessly.

After the city tour, it was about 40 minutes by bus back to the campsite and here I enjoyed the sunset, ate and simply enjoyed being.

After a really balanced day, I went to bed pretty exhausted and the next day I drove on towards Golden Bay. I had planned a few "wet" stops along the way. You can read about which ones and how many I managed in the next post.

Your Britta