In which we wrap up our travels on the South Island, run Queenstown and prepare to return home.

Another day, another scenery filled grey, rainy west coast day. We left Fox glacier in the rain and tippy toed our way down the range to the west coast. On a day varying from driving rain to bright sunshine there was one constant. Wind. On the coast we swapped from vistas of snow capped peaks to beaches and rugged promontories . We paused at Haast to visit the tourist centre and find some information on the walks and sights as we headed toward the Haast pass, the lowest pass over the Southern alps but in the end only visited those close to the road because of the weather.
We stayed overnight in a chalet styled cabin and then headed into Queenstown via Wānaka where we paused long enough to hike to the top of one of the local peaks and chat to some visitors from Boston.

Milford sound

Any visitors to this part of the world do a trip to Milford sound. It’s almost a given. It’s a whole day. Five hours down through Te Anau, into the sound through the tunnel, a two hour boat trip and then the bus trip in reverse. It can be driven but I was grateful not to have to and I doubt the little car would have made the prodigious climb up out of the sound. We were driving a little Toyota vitz hybrid that was very frugal and suited for the two of us but didn’t have a lot of grunt.

Again a very grey day with clouds around the peaks. It meant we got lots of moody grey images but not the astonishing views of mountain tops that can occur. It should be noted that Milford sound gets rain sme 250 days of the year so we were not Robinson Crusoe in that respect. It was an amazing trip and we’ll worth the time.

Queenstown marathon

This trip was set up with two marathons in mind. Auckland and Queenstown. Auckland had been very successful finishing second in age group and 3.11.58. Queenstown is a different event with 70% on trail and lots of up and down. The time was never going to be as quick. Apart from that we had been touring for three weeks with lots of driving and no long runs so I wasn’t sure how it was going to go. It is a point to point event from Arrowtown, an old gold mining settlement, down the bike trail, around Lake Hayes, back onto the Queenstown trail, into town (past our apartment) and finish at the Rec reserve.
So, Friday, the day before the marathon picking up numbers in the pouring rain. Even the locals were a little on edge. We wake up Saturday, race morning to bright sunshine although only 7 degrees C. Who knows?
On the bus out to Arrowtown and have a chat to a nice young man from Christchurch, have a coffee, wait to the last minute to strip off and away we go. First kilometre has a stiff uphill and then down. Good way to shock the legs. Through the Main Street of Arrowtown and out onto the trail. Legs were wondering what was going on, not having to race for a while they thought we’d gone into a Christmas break or at least were hoping. Down to Lake Hayes, had gone out too quick again but was starting to settle, a couple of stiff rolling hills weren’t appreciated but were negotiated. A runner came past who looked to be of about my vintage. Hmmm, might be running for second. I could see him for quite a while not getting away but not coming back. Over the bridge on the Shotover river. Went through half on schedule or a bit quick and headed toward Queenstown. At about 30 kms my legs and I had a bit of a discussion. They thought that was far enough. I pointed out that this was point to point and even if they stopped we would still have to walk in and we’d be out there for a much longer time. They relented and even though we certainly didn’t get any quicker we didn’t drop lots of time.
It is always interesting at this point when spectators tell you that you are looking good but you feel not such.
Lat kms back into town and around the gardens. Keep hoping the spectators will stay their side of the fence and the half marathon walkers will stay out of the way. Up the hill down the ramp and to the finish in 3:23.23. So ten minutes slower than Auckland but a much tougher course. Turned out the old guy wasn’t so old so I won my age group. Great success! Legs pretty much shot but the rest of me did ok.
This was my eighth and final marathon for the year after Hobart (paced 4hr), Canberra (3.30 wet), McLarenvale (3.14), Brisbane(paced 3.40), Cairns (paced3.40), Melbourne (3.18), Auckland (3.12) and Queenstown (3.23). Time for a break from marathons until April of next year. A bit of track work and some tuning up.

One curious difficulty we had with both New Zealand marathons was the prize for both age group wins were ASICS vouchers. This was fabulous and much appreciated until we read the fine print that it was only for online purchase and only delivery to a New Zealand postal address. Not much use for a touring runner. Our Airbnb host in Queenstown generously allowed us to use their address and passed on the top and socks we purchased with the Auckland voucher but the voucher in Queenstown was swapped for a couple of ice coffees and some sun screen.

And then on to home. Two stars to the right and straight on to morning.

We left Queenstown and headed for Dunedin on the east coast. This involved a bit of up and down across the spine of the South Island. It was interesting to see the difference in climate and geography. The west side is very dramatic being more exposed to the winds from the Antarctic coming up from the south west. The eastern side contains more flat, fertile land and has more farming with beef, sheep and grain. We were back to touring and stopped at Larnach castle for a look see. This is one of the tourist hot spots in Dunedin and has been being refurbished for over forty years. The gardens are very impressive and the coffee and scones are pretty good too.

We were staying in a little cottage on the Otago peninsula just out of Dunedin from where we could visit a couple of beaches with fur seals and penguins. We didn’t manage to see penguins but we walked one of the beaches and came upon half a dozen fur seals or sea lions sunning themselves on the beach unconcerned about people wandering past (at a conservative distance).

Leaving Dunedin we headed up the coast, we stopped at Baldwin street in Dunedin which is in the Guinness book of Records as the steepest street in the world. Well. We had to walk up that. Not just us! It is a tourist Mecca with people coming from everywhere to walk up. I reckon I could have run it but it would have meant putting on shorts and runners. Pretty solid walk.

We kept on. Visiting the towns of Oameru and Timaru. Oameru is an important old port that has recast itself as a tourist town with many of the old warehouses repurposed as hospitality venues and retail stores. They also have a pretty nice brewery. At Timaru there was talk that the penguin colony comes in and nests on the sea wall. We went down to see but were far too keen. Arriving well before dusk we waited and waited. We sat on one of the rocks on the sea wall and a nice volunteer came and told us to move back as the penguins come up the sea wall. As we hadn’t even smelt a fishy breath by then I was starting to wonder. A while later to great excitement two penguins turned up to a quiet rock star welcome. They then disappeared under the rocks and turned up again just underneath where we’d been sitting.

Several more made their way in and waddled through the tussocks and rocks completely unconscious of the people watching on.

So. Here we are in Christchurch. The little car has gone back to the company at the airport. We thought we’d drop it off early and I would have a run back. It seemed to make more sense than paying for parking overnight and then taking it back and I needed the run. Didn’t get lost. Nice weather yesterday, raining today. Thought it would be a chance to get this done before we get on the big red bird and home, as long as qantas remember that they are an airline not just a promise of one.

Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas to all. There’s a beer in the fridge. Pop over.