Goodbye Nelson, Hello Christchurch
Tuesday 2004-03-30
I wanted to spend some time in Nelson while all the shops were open, so I did that this morning. I bought a few CDs of New Zealand artists and also picked up some stuff in a local crafts shop. Whenever I go somewhere I try to pick up some music by the local singers - music that is usually difficult to get in the States. And I always buy some locally produced crafts.

One of the things that I love about the shops in the smaller towns is that their hours are 'flexible'. For example most of the shops open at roughly the posted time, although not always. And they frequently post their closing time as 'open late', meaning that they will close once there isn't much business left to do.

I finally reluctantly left Nelson at about 2:00 in the afternoon. The drive southeast to Christchurch goes through some beautiful forests. I especially liked the area around Lewis Pass. I don't know what type of evergreen tree grows there, but they have a beautiful full canopy. The landscape for the remainder of the drive was drier and flatter. Since I left Nelson so late, I arrived in Christchurch after dark. Not the smartest thing to do since I'm obviously unfamilar with the area and I also didn't have any lodging booked. I quickly found a hotel and stayed there for the evening.