Brr cold in Nelson

Well, it is official... the frosts are back. I can say BRRRRR. One of the locals said that when there is a heavy frost, you are in for a beautiful day. I add to that a chilly day! I've been practising my fire starting and wood chopping skills and am learning the secret to making great kindling is selecting the proper block of wood to chop. I far prefer pine to blue gum. And knots are very bad...

What is another way I knew the frosts are back?

Answer- I visited 2 grocery stores and both were sold out of "Beehives", my favourite firestarter things.

In other exciting news, I saw my first local seal yesterday, as it played in the water outside the window at the office.

I also discovered yesterday that the kiwis think we are queer for having "bangs", as they have "fringes".

The thoughts on the sky dive business from after the fact- I want to go again!! It is pretty cool how they can land exactly where they want to, after coming so far so fast. I want to go this time to enjoy without the sense of fear I had round #1. Perhaps if there is room in the budget as I do my tour through NZ!

A bit on kiwi traffic:

1)- drive on left hand side of road

2) no turning left on red lights

3) when turning left, yield to cars coming towards you who are turning right. (Note- I read in the paper that they are contemplating killing this rule as it causes many accidents.) I would point out that we in NA yield to the oncoming car and have the same rule only even though we drive on the other side of the road.

4) roundabouts- look and yield to the right. I haven't got the signal lights business down, or quite what to do when there are multiple lanes.

5) They have these crazy one way tunnels and bridges here, so I guess you have to pay a little bit of attention when driving or the results could be hazardous!