After the wash-out of New Years Eve in Picton, New Years day was warm and sunny and I caught the Magic Bus to Nelson.

Arriving late afternoon to my hostel I was a little shocked (but probably shouldn't have been surprised) to find that my dorm room contained 5 bodies and various empty bottles from the night before. Joy, and they were German - of course. The room was also tiny with 3 sets of TRIPLE-storey bunk-beds. So I took this as a sign that I needed to get out and went to explore the town. Nelson is bigger than some towns in NZ, but it's still pretty small. But it had nice shops and coffee shops etc.

That evening, as there wasn't much else to do, I ventured to the cathedral, which was about 20 seconds away from the hostel, and went to evensong. Which was rather nice and relaxing. I then cooked dinner and had a drink and joined some other people still recovering from New Years Eve to watch a film in the lounge.

2nd January, and my birthday. I started with a walk round the shops and headed to the gallery in town, which only had contemporary ceramics - but it was ok. I then treated myself to a big coffee and cake and then started out on a walk to the beach - I've always wanted to spend my birthday on a beach that wasn't on the East coast of Britain wrapped up in scarves and jumpers! Unfortunately the weather wasn't great and I still needed a degree of extra layers! But I found the beach and had a paddle all the same!

In the evening I went to a nice local restaurant and treated myself to seafood chowder, pork belly and a glass of wine. And very nice it was too! By now the bodies in my room had been replaced by a much nicer bunch, and an English couple! But in true traveler style they were all cooking pasta and 18p noodles for dinner, so I didn't really have anyone to splash out on a fancy meal with me! But it was nice anyway.

The next day I headed to Abel Tasman National Park to do a hike and sea kayaking. Unfortunately due to cock-up by the bus company I got there too late so only managed to do the walk in rather a rush and a little sea kayaking. So didn't really get to take many pics or see all of the beautiful scenery.

The next day was spent recovering from my rushed day in the park and lazing around reading. And then I caught the bus to Greymouth...