New Zealand Trip

Sunday, February 12, 2006

I am currently in New Zealand attending the IAPR Workshop on Document Analysis Systems. Today I am recovering from my 22 hour travel day and walking around Nelson, NZ to get my bearings and see the town.

The flight from San Francisco to Auckland, NZ was on one of Air New Zealand's new 777 planes. It was nice, every seat had choose your own movies, music albums, and video games (even in coach). The seats were fairly comfortable too, at least compared to the Seattle to San Fran leg where people were crammed in like cattle.

The jump from Auckland to Nelson was on a cute little Saab plane. I enjoy my Saab 9-3, so it was fun to try out one of their planes too.

My first impression of Nelson is one of these perfect small towns full of parks and friendly people. I got stopped on my walk by an elderly lady who saw me taking pictures and welcomed me to Nelson. There were more walkers than drivers today, which always scored points for me, though it is Sunday, so maybe that has something to do with it.

More photos from Nelson to come in the next post. Stay tuned...