Nelson, New Zealand

Once on the South Island, I went straight to Nelson, which served as my base for my hike, or "tramp", as the Kiwis say, on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. I went back to Nelson, a great little town full of microbreweries and apple orchards. Only two blocks away from the hostel is a little place called the Sprig and Fern that serves 2L bottles of beer for $6/10NZD. But other than as a base for hiking the Abel Tasman, there isn't too much to come here for.
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Details:
In Wellington, I went to the YHA Wellington across from the supermarket near the hostels at 07:00 to take the transfer ($2) to the ferry terminal, buy tickets at the YHA reception. You can check bags at the ferry terminal and getting aboard is quite painless. The ferry ($28) arrives at 11:35 and I waited for an hour before the 12:45 nakedbus to Nelson departed from right outside the Picton ferry terminal ($5 to Nelson, intercity also runs this route). The ferry ($28) arrives at 11:35, check the timetable for up-to-date information, I am only quoting the times I rode. Naked bus will drop you off at a close point to your hostel upon request. I stayed at Paradiso Backpackers, which is a nice place with free evening soup and breakfast ($18/24NZD for a dorm).