Nelson Travel Guide

the best places to swim are tahunanui beach, rabbit island (its a beach) and the aniseed valley (if your into fresh water rivers, but freaking freezing!) haha i went to school at "lego land" (Garin College) its in richmond. when i lived there most weekends (in summer) we would either go to the beach or the rivers.  for the brave at the A. J. hacket bridge there is a water hole and you can jump off the bridge into the river... cant say i was brave enough to actually jump from the top of the bridge but i jumped off the rock which is futher down the road from A.J. hacket. bus sevice is SH*t so dont even bother trying that-try spending an hour in the hot sun in richmond waiting for the bus to come and take you to the beach-pretty much jumped straight into the water when we finally got there! i wonder if i can edit this later to add more when i think of it...

Passed through here a couple or few times.  There is a great club called Phat which is worth checking out for new and interesting music, quite a variation in line up, odds are high to catch a good drum and bass night here though.  There is a brewery not far from Nelson called Mac's which offers tours, I haven't done it but would like to next time.  I stayed at the YHA one time also, was fine.  Locals generally friendly and helpful, are used to high volumes of tourists. Top place to be in summer, although I've only been through in July/Aug/Sept.

Nelson has it all. It is a nice medium sized town in the 'Sun belt' on top of New Zealand's South island (the most spectacular island, in terms of scenery or 'wow factor'). Nelson is in theMarlborough region, which is well known for its wine. Abel Tasman National park is also nearby, and is one of NZ's best national parks for hiking, kayaking, fishing etc and is listed as one of NZ's 'Great Walks'. Unfortunately, for some reason, no universities were built in Nelson, or the rest of the 'Sun belt'. If there were, Fanny and I would move to Nelson.