Nelson

Today I’m visiting Nelson, in the north west corner of the South Island of New Zealand. The bus yesterday was full of people with serious backpacks. One passenger even had a bike. I felt like an imposter. I decided to walk to several of the attractions in Nelson. They have built a walkway along the river.

It goes past Queens Gardens 

which includes a Chinese garden.

I was taken by the paths, which had been made by putting flat river pebbles on their sides.

I continued along the river track for a short way (too far, so I had to backtrack) and found the beginning of the trail to the centre of New Zealand

which happens to be on the exact top of a hill overlooking the town.

There’s a trail around the ridge, 

along it you can look back at the centre of New Zealand (it has a tall pointy pole)

that eventually leads to the Japanese garden.

Then I took the main road back to my accommodation.

For the next five days I’ll be somewhere without much contact, so I may not be able to post any updates.