We left Wellington at the crack of dawn (once again - starting to get sick of these early mornings and trying desperately to catch up on sleep on various modes of transport).

We got the ferry back to Picton and then a 90min bus journey to Nelson, sat next to the smelliest man in the world. Seriously, some boys need to learn to either shower properly or at least discover shower in a can. I ended up wrapping my scarf around me like a Muslim, just so I didn't have to inhale the smell!! (incidentally this same smelly being, ended up in the same room at our hostel on the first night in Nelson and the room stank of him the next morning!!)

We spent our first night in Nelson in a backpacker's in the centre of town. A 15 min up and downhill walk from the hospital. We have subsequently moved to live about 8min walk from the hospital which we can see from our hostel.

Nelson isn't really a city at all. More like a town. Not even a big town. It's supposed to have beautiful weather all year round, although we saw a good bit of rain thus far, which they tell me is very unusual - we're not having much luck with the weather anywhere we go. Still the streets are nice and leafy and on the more typical Nelson days, the temps get up to 15/16 degrees.

My accommodation is called the Bug Backpacker's and is all themed around the Beetle car. We even got a beetle shaped chocolate in our room on arrival. It's $125 per week which includes tea/coffee and fresh bread every morning! We're sharing a twin room which is pretty cool. The kitchen is quite big and there's a nice living area and back garden. The owner is from Leicester. There are also 2 dogs and a baby that live here, so I'm in heaven!

The hospital is a lot smaller than any I've ever been in before. For example, General Medicine (a department we don't really have in the UK but basically covers haematology, oncology, respiratory, cardiology etc), has 30 beds! 30 in the entire hospital! The paediatric ward has about 10 beds! There are 5 theatres but these cover C-sections, paediatrics and all other types of operations inc emergencies! The staff are really, really friendly and as you might imagine, everyone knows everyone. They have a grand total of 5-8 medical students here at any one time, who come over from Christchurch for a placement. The hospital is all consultant-led and so other than a few surgical/anaesthetic registrars, there are only really F1/SHOs around. The consultants do work 80 hour weeks which sounds horrific!

I've just realised I failed to mention that I'm doing anaesthetics. 4 of the cons anaesthetists are English and there are only 9 consultants in the whole department! 3 of the 4 are Northerners as well so I feel quite at home! They're letting me do quite a lot as well which is really good. I've also been told that if I go in on a hot sunny day then they'll be really disappointed in me...I've also been given a list of places to visit nearby to keep me occupied on my days off. They've also recommended the best restaurants to go to in town and where to get the best muffins.

Been on a few 4ish mile runs (involving lots of steep hills) to keep me ticking over. Tuesday was the shortest day of the year here meaning I see very little daylight out here. However, the stars are truly incredible in NZ - they skimp on energy and therefore streetlights out here!

What Kiwis do well - coffee, muffins, wine, a national love for the outdoors and keeping fit, general relaxed attitude and everything is very spread out.

Not so well - late nights (a no go), sticking to time in theatre, cheap food (eating does seem to cost a fortune), alcohol (again costs a fortune).

Anyway the weekend is here so I'm off to sample some of the local wine :D

Much love xxx