For Christmas this year Hamish and I hopped on a 25 minute plane ride to Nelson and spent four beautiful sun drenched days down there. Nelson is a vibrant city near the top of the south island. It is surrounded by rolling hills and coastal landscapes and is the home to many orchards, wineries and boutique breweries.

We only managed to explore a tiny bit of the region, but what we saw was picturesque.

We picked berries…

… caught an amazing sunset and view of Nelson while out walking the puppy…

… and partook in Christmas festivities.

On boxing day we spent the day exploring. We went on a day trip to Kaiteriteri and Split Apple rock which are well known beaches. On the way we got distracted by some craft breweries. One of which was in Mapua, and the other in Riwaka. Without the stops the drive to Kaiteriteri would be about 40 minutes, add on another 20 minutes to Split Apple rock.

If we had more time we would have adventured into the Abel Tasman which is one of the nine great walks in NZ. Here you can kayak and go for single to multi day walks amongst the beautiful golden beaches.