Nelson

Our hostel in Picton looked like a (quoting the owner here) “third world train station“ on the outside and like a Greek painting on the inside. Everything also had an underlying marine theme. The owner even spoke a marine jargon that might have been popular 150 years ago, but she was so committed and seemed to genuinely have a great time being in charge of a hostel. What a kind lady! Since the website for the hostel said there would be free parking on the premises and we couldn‘t find it, we parked in a 60 minute free parking zone, went inside (past midnight!) and asked her. She responded: “Fear not, your chariot may stay there, it shall not be taken!“ She went on to mention that the government didn‘t have the capacity to pay anyone to check on people illegally extending their stay on limited parking spaces. Cool. After a glass of wine and a great conversation with Dan (a reflected, insightful guy from Israel), I went to bed at around 3am. I almost felt refreshed after 5 hours of sleep!
Before we left the hostel, we collected Andrew, who wanted to hitchhike to Nelson. Since we were going in the same direction, and miraculously were able to fit him plus his luggage into my car, we let him join our quirky gang. (That also meant he wasn‘t able to make use of the little cardboard that the owner of the hostel had made for him so lovingly!) While we were tetrissing our luggage to make some room in the car, we saw an elegantly dressed parking warden scribbling a ticket for the car in front of us. What a great coincidence that we happened to be at the car at just the right moment to avoid getting her autograph… Andrew told us about a case of an overnight stay that cost the two cars they had 400 NZD each. Yikes…
Before we arrived at Nelson, we had a pit stop at a beautiful river along the road, Rai River. We tried skipping stones and Maddie went for a swim. (No one can say she doesn‘t use every single opportunity for a wee dip, and no matter how cold the water is, she always says: “The water is lovely!“ (Only sometimes with a slightly higher voice than at other times…)
When we arrived at Nelson (a truly cute town), my need for sushi prevailed, so we enjoyed a truly reasonably priced meal. Just next door, there was a 5 star rated coffee place that had the BEST iced matcha milkshake I‘ve ever had! I‘m still really happy about that.もっと詳しく