Friday 12 April 2013

Nelson, New Zealand, April 5th 2013

Nelson and the flight Home...

The briefest of stops as my visit here in enforced through lack of connections north and back to base camp in Te Horo. I need to get to the airport by 12 noon - priority. No direct buses, only what the Kiwis term shuttles, a mini-bus taxi costing 10 quid for the short 15 minute ride. $2 NZD by local bus to Annasbrooke then 20 minutes hike to the airport terminal. Go's at 11.30 so an hour to take a look around Nelson - well, the city centre part of it anyway.

Its what the Kiwis call a city, the Brits would class Nelson as a town and the Americans a Village. Its a place about the size of Ipswich, Suffolk, in England with the centre on flat ground right to the waterfront, suburban areas extending back onto hillsides. A cathedral in the park, sun reflecting on the back hills and the old art deco style structures makes Nelson Centre an interesting place, plenty of history here to explore - not today though, just enough time for a few photos before hiking down to the bus stand on Bridge Street.

Just 2 buses to serve the whole of Nelson, number 1 and number 2! Number 2 to the Black Cat shops at Annasbrooke for me and my backpack. Quite busy for a small regional airport and surprisingly some of the most lax security I have seen in a while - pretty easy for anyone to jump the fence and disrupt proceedings on the tarmac. Time to kill, so up onto the viewing terrace for some photographing before my flight to Paraparaumu with air2there, a small air taxi service using some pretty small planes - should make an interesting flight over the mountains.

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