The beginning of the South Island: Nelson

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been so long since a blog post. I suppose it says something about how much stuff there is to do on the South Island and maybe how rare great internet is here too. We thought about trying to pack the last 5 days into one post...but it's just not possible, so we'll start with Nelson. Nelson is the oldest city on the South Island and is known for nearby Abel Tasman National Park (unfortunately we didn't get to see that), the wineries that surround it, arts & crafts, and its lovely Saturday market.



We stayed in a great hostel called The Bug (theme: an ode to all things Volkswagen Bug), and went to the Nelson market Saturday morning. If you're a fan of farmers markets in the U.S., then you'd love Nelson's morning market. Food stalls abound, you can grab a delicious breakfast while walking around, and there are plenty of friendly vendors inviting you to try yummy samples. We spent the better part of the day wandering around the market and enjoying the sunny weather. There was even a gluten free baking stand, so Ryan got to buy a made-from-scratch gluten-free loaf. After having our fill of the sunny market, we got back in our little rental car and headed three hours south down the Eastcoast to Kaikoura-- a town famous for its marine life.