happy

So after we drove to Christchurch last night we sought out a quiet street not far from the airport to park the van and got 6 hours of sleep (the van has a very plush double bed in the back).

Then we boarded a flight for Wellington.

At Wellington we picked the tiniest of rental cars and drove north to my home town of Palmerston North.

We could have flown Dunedin to Palmerston North direct, except because Air New Zealand has a monopoly position on that route it would have cost us NZ$1400 for the return trip (not cash that we have lying around). So instead we did it the silly way, 13 hours driving plus the flights and it came in under $600.

To put it in context, for about $800 Dr Lizi and I could fly direct from Dunedin to Melbourne return at the moment. Slightly more interesting.

Still, we had a very good reason to go, and the trip itself was actually good fun, and there was much happiness of the kind you can see above (our friend Lynn and niece Charlotte). Was great to see the family and to take part in Nicole's birthday. Would do it again tomorrow.