Nelson

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It was cold and rainy as I got on the bus to take me from the YHA hostel over to the ferry. I had the worst night's sleep possible, I didn't want to use my eye-mask or earplugs in case I didn't get up in time for the bus due to not hearing my alarm.

Today I was going to be travelling across the Cook Straits, in a small ferry (the trip only took 3 hours). Unfortunately, the school holidays have started here in earnest, and there are lots of little kids running around, so it was pretty hard to get any sleep.

Centre of NZ walk, taking it easy !

Watched Tottenham vs Liverpool on the TV in the bar, Liverpool won 3-0. After that, searched for some recliner chairs so I could get some shut-eye (I was still feeling a bit green about the gills). Luckily I had plenty of Lemsip with me!

After we all got off the ferry, a whole load of new people had hopped on the bus. These people were travelling either from Christchurch to Auckland (i.e. doing the South island first), or had hopped on in Wellington. We drove down to Nelson, via a wine-tasting session (which I unusually didn't partake in due to aforementioned lemsip commitments).

We got into Nelson, which was a really pretty little town, and the sun was shining nicely.  Everyone went for a walk up to the 'Centre of NZ' (this is directly in the centre of both the north and south islands), the views were really nice. After that, I was suffering a bit feeling bunged up, so nipped back to the hostel for their cheap meal deal. I ended up chatting for a bit to some new people (Signi and Heidi from Denmark), and hit the sack fairly early. The hostel was really cool here, with a beer tasting, and a nice cheap meal. It was also nice to escape the uncompromising windy Wellington weather !