Wednesday

We were up early and checked out and went down to a cafe for breakfast where I had homemade muesli and fruit and yogurt and Jon had a fry up. Some of the breakfasts as this cafe were huge like great big stacks of food but lots of these people are riding bikes around the hills so I suppose they need the energy.

We set off round some very bendy up and down roads to Nelson. We drove through the Marlborough wine region and saw miles of vines. The main thing you notice in the South Island is the lack of ferns and the very tall trees. The logging industry fascinates me and I would like to find out more of how it is managed. You see hills at every stage of the process. The last bit of the journey before you enter Nelson is very hairy and how these big lorries manage I do not know just as well there are not too many of them.

We arrived at the hotel and it was further out of the town than we would have liked but it was in a nice spot. Jon went off to the port and I walked into town which only took about 15 minutes. I went to see the cathedral which by UK standards is very modern, the foundation stone was laid in 1925 and the building completed in 1972. It was a very bare building but the windows were beautiful but all in all it looked like it was made of concrete blocks and the tower looks like a fire station hose tower. Nelson was a disappointment to me as I had in my mind it would be small and old and it was big and modern. I did visit the Queen Elizabeth gardens which were very pretty. I walked miles around that town and it was by now very hot and my head was starting to ache so I went back to the hotel. I started with a migraine again last one was in KL so I had a lie down and by the time Jon came back it was better but I did not feel like going out in the sun again. The geographical centre of NZ will have to wait.

By seven I was feeling much better but was worried as to how I was going to spend a whole day in Nelson when Jon went to Christchurch the next day.

We had a good dinner Jon had stone baked lamb kebabs. They bring you a very hot stone and you cook your own dinner and he enjoyed it very much. We walked home for an early night as Jon had to get to the airport for his flight.