Nelson, New Zealand where shoes are optional. Ha. Not just at the beach, people wouldn't be wearing shoes in the grocery store, banks, cafe, etc. It is a real hippie town. The landscape was similar to Vernon, British Columbia. Just like Vernon, Nelson has beaches, rolling hills, small-town vibe.

Nelson has the sunniest climates out of all the cities in NZ, earning the nickname 'Sunny Nelson' with an annual average total of over 2,400 hours of sunshine. Calgary is known for its sunny days as well, with an average of 2,396 hours of sunlight annually. With Nelson being what they call "the center" of NZ because of that, we felt it would only make sense for us to hike up and enjoy the view of the centre of NZ and check it out. We also hiked through the National Park to Abel Tasman. Carrying the kids through the paths and beach in 30-degree weather wasn't exactly ideal. Once we reached the shore, it felt a bit more worth the trek, but wouldn't probably boat around there if we ever did it again.

Our AirBnB was located right in front of the harbour which is protected by a boulder bank. For the entire week, my view and the harbour activity was my form of Social Media entertainment. I would sit there daily and watch the cruise and cargo ships, Navy boats, yachts, sailboats, and people diving off of the dock.

One weekend we planned it around going to Nelson's Sunday market. It turns out it was like a garage sale where people bring there old/used items. Needless to say, we left with full bellies from Belgium mini pancakes but nothing to take home.

After our one week stay here, we didn't want to leave. The place we stayed at was cozy, loved our view and enjoyed the nastolgic feeling of our summers out in the Okanagan.

Love The Joneses,

XOXO