Murchison > Nelson (Richmond)
Another cold and rainy night - and had actually snowed on the mountains around us, but was a glorious sunny morning. One hot shower and boiled eggs and muffins later, and the craving for a regular bed started to recede. I couldn't find my toothbrush though... as I 'd left it in my fleece pocket (I don't normally wear a fleece to the bathroom!). James chased the wildlife around the campsite before we left, though squealed when the deer licked him.
 
The scenery was again magnificent on our drive back to the coast - and once again we just pulled off the road to a carefully signposted picnic site, and let James run around the meadow.
Also, once again we went through our various theories about NZ and how it's different from home: still not quite got it worked out, but maybe a key thing that is nicer/better here is that it's not so crowded. Sounds obvious, I know, but try this: it's not that the people are especially different, but just that everyone here is under less everyday pressure E.g. you can drive to the shops on a Saturday afternoon without fighting for a parking space, and you can park your truck at the side of the road without someone giving you a ticket. Another maybe thing is that there seems to be more evenly distributed wealth - the house prices look similar across town, and lots of public spaces (playgrounds, parks, toilets) seem to be used by everyone.
Nelson itself was quite a shock from what we'd imagined - and it was a real hassle having to drive through a busy town looking for a parking spot (see what I mean?). So we manged to avoid getting a ticket, had a mediocre Chinese for lunch and logged on to an Internet cafe... before driving back to Richmond (15km back the way we came), checking into yet another Top 10 site. 2 glasses of Stoneleigh Sauvignon Blanc and we were back in the groove.
We took James to the park opposite for a runaround, but instead he insisted on running up and down the ramp to the local rugby clubhouse... again and again!
And just to round things off nicely we walked though a really peaceful suburb to a Thai restaurant, before letting Dyson back at the rice and noodles! We must've tired him out out because it's all quiet on the top bunk...
The best bit is the goodnight routine:
"Night night Justine. Night night Taiya. Night night Grandma. Night night bus. Night night big boat. Night white car" etc
[And then when James starts running out of things and people]
"Night night more white car"
I just can't help but laugh - which he thinks is great, and doesn't help with the bedtime wind-down
10:21:12 PM 
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