I left the house in Nelson and headed to a campsite about 15 minutes away. I don't mind camping and sometimes really look forward to it, even while staying in a house, but a few times I wondered if I should have just stayed for the next two days I'll be in the Richmond/Nelson area. The house was really comfortable and convenient.
But the campground worked out great as well. I could walk to Richmond, which I did a few times, and would take walks in the surrounding neighborhood in the evenings.
As a few things I was going to do in the area didn't pan out, and I was in desperate need of some planning time and time to set up things like my rental car and accommodations in Wellington, I used a lot of my two days there to get some of this stuff done. I also went to town and bought a camping pot which I can use the rest of the trip and in the future.
At dinner on the 31st I sat at the communal table in the dining area of the kitchen. Across the table to my right was a miner that was taking some time off as he'd had a heart attack and follow-up surgery a month before. To my left beside me and at the end of the table was a man and his wife. The man had lost both his legs in the earthquake that hit Christchurch about four years ago. He was one of three people that lost both legs in the earthquake.
That evening after walking I came back and ended up connecting with a group of 20-somethings I'd been seeing around. The five of them, all from different countries, had met while traveling and were all doing fruit picking. As is common, they were on 1-year work travel visas, so were picking fruit to make travel money. I had been curious about work travel visas and fruit picking so asked them all about it. Pretty fascinating stuff. One couple at the table had just finished their stint that day and were headed on to another part of the country to travel.