Weekend in Nelson

I was a bit ambivalent about taking our first weekend away to the "big city" of Nelson (metro population about 60,000), I thought we should be hiking and exploring the wilds of New Zealand.  But no worries:  Nelson was a great get-away and I am looking forward to a return trip.  The three hour drive involved a very twisty drive up Buller Gorge, marked by one-lane bridges and startling road signs.  Eric did an admirable job of "keeping left."  Once we were over the mountains, the landscape suddenly was drier, and farm crops needed irrigation.  Arriving in Nelson, we explored the city center on foot:  the Saturday farmer's market, the beautiful church on Cathedral Hill, the Suter Art Gallery and the Queen's Gardens.     The Maitai River courses down the center of Nelson, and we strolled on the walking path next to it.
  Birds continue to entertain us, and we took many photos of the diving cormorant and the multi-hued ducks.

 Our map clearly marked the "Center of New Zealand" so  we took the short but steep 20 min walk up the cliff to the monument.  Turns out, as the marker on top states "...it depends how you define "center."   Still, it was a lovely view.

We stayed in a beautiful bed and breakfast, the historic Warwick House,
 where we shared appetizers and wine in the courtyard with our hosts and another couple, kite-boarders from Bangkok.

On Sunday morning, I slept in luxuriously late, and we started a round-about lazy drive home:  to Mapua, an oceanside village, to a vineyard for wine-tasting, to a world -class art glass studio, and then to a late lunch in New Zealand's oldest pub.   
 It was a great little get away for the weekend,  even if it involved the first traffic light we have seen in three weeks.