Nelson- again.

I know. I just can't stay away. I got back to Nelson on Monday? I think. So far I've just been hanging out, sleepin in the tent, saving some money. I'm going to go to Abel Tasman National Park this weekend to do some hiking/kayaking, and then on Monday I start WWOOFing again. At a place called Windsong Orchard in Renwick, which is the heart of wine country in New Zealand (but it's not a vineyard, unfortunately). I will stay there for at least a week, possibly two. If I stay for one week, I will spend the other at a vineyard, but the vineyard is in the same town as the last place I tried WWOOFing, which I feel like is a bad omen.

There's a very eccentric book seller here in Nelson, where I've now bought two books, but I just cannot figure out how this man makes any money. It's a used bookstore, and he said that he'd buy back some of my books (I hoard the books I buy, hoping I can sell them back somewhere since the book exchanges at the hostels have all been horrible). Right now I have 6 books to sell back. Ridiculous I know. I counted today, I think I've read 10 books so far since being gone. It's also nice to be back in sunshine finally. I have been rained on in almost every city I've been in, for around 2 weeks straight it rained on and off throughout the day.

Yesterday I hiked to the geographical center of New Zealand. There's just a little plaque and sculpture to denote that someone at some point calculated it out, and that is the exact center of New Zealand. It's a short hike, 45 min round trip, but STEEP. I went at 4 in the afternoon and it was still super hot. Tomorrow I think I might do the extended version of that hike that takes you out to the bay, and my favorite beer so far in New Zealand is brewed here in Nelson so I'm going to go check out the factory. Other than that things are pretty mellow, I can't believe I've been here for over a month now.