Hello from Nelson

I spend most of my day yesterday to get to Nelson. First packing and signing out of my Auckland hostel, on the shuttle, at the airport, and in transit to my hostel in Nelson. I arrived ~5pm when it was almost dark, but I went for a short little walk around and chatted with the girl sharing my hostel room- who was from Thailand.

Today I walked around to try and find my new place of work. In Kelly like fashion, I wore uncomfortable shoes on my walk, and took the wrong turn two times. So 2.5 hours later I actually found where I will be working, a 30 minute walk from my current hostel. They tell me there are flat adds in Wednesday's paper, so I guess I'll start looking then. I've managed to locate a few key things in Nelson so far- my bank (ASB), Postie, Glassons, Subway, 2 grocery stores, Kathmandu (which I have yet to visit, but think I may one day soon), as well as spotting a Warehouse. (They say it is the walmart equivalent. It is not quite so bit with so much selection, but what they have tends to be cheap).

I must say that Nelson is set in a hilly area- it reminds me of Kelowna. The cabbie who drove me last night said they have the most beautiful weather in NZ. They've recently had record lows- several days in the -6 degree range. Today is sunny with a little breeze- and not a cloud in the sky. Average winter temperature is around 13 degrees. They get less than a metre of rainfall a year here... Lovely! Although I think it is true that the ozone layer is depleted here, if the ease of getting sunburns is any indication (even on an overcast day).

I'm out to go for another brief walk. Need to find some stamps to mail off my work contract forms, and maybe pick up a few groceries...

Tomorrow- the first day of work... Keep you posted on how it goes.