More days in Nelson

I discovered another amazing fact about Nelson yesterday... The "One Ring" (to rule them all) was cast not in the fires of Mount Doom, but rather by a jeweler in Nelson. I walked by his shop today. Thrilling hey!

I worked yesterday, and had today off. Today I did several critical things- I obtained my working in NZ tax number, did laundry (YAY- clean clothes!), and found an umbrella!! (all over the place in Auckland but the only one I had found in Nelson previously was a $60 souvenier All Blacks one. Although Nelson is the sun capital of NZ, it was raining walking home from work yesterday. I'm happy to be prepared).

I also found a GELATO shop here today! YAY!!!! Although it is only open 12-5, meaning I can only frequent it on the weekend. :(

A few more NZ observations. They seem to be much more environmentally concious than us. First off, they don't seem to heat their homes (granted the weather is slightly different). Many kiwis don't have dryers- but hang to dry. Some of them use something called a "wetback", which I'm not really sure about, but I think it is good for the environment. They use worms a fair bit here - feeding them scraps etc. (The current hostel included.)

On the shopping front, it is interesting how many things are similar or different. Eating out here is expensive (except fast food which is pretty much the same as back home). Tomatoes are currently rather expensive(to my chagrin: about $8,99 per kg). I tried some tabouli today for the first time- not a huge fan. Lots of seafood in the grocery- and LOTS of wine. I guess they make a fair bit of wine, and they stock their shelves well.

In the kiwi vocabulary, "sweet as" or "good as" are frequently used. We might just drop the "as".

Comments on the hostels so far: surprisingly good. Clean, excellently equipped kitchens (except as I discovered making casserole yesterday- no baking dish- I baked instead in a bread pan. It worked). Staff have been generally helpful. YHA in Nelson is a quiet hostel right now, except when the tour groups go through- but there is a nice TV room an ample lounge room space.