Centre of New Zealand

I may have arrived in Nelson at just about the worse time of the year but I am not going to let that stop me from enjoying myself. The great thing about the weather in New Zealand is that even the bad weather isn’t that terrible. When I woke up this morning it was overcast and raining slightly but still not really that bad. The temperature was quite warm and the rain was refreshing so I did what needed to be done and went for a much needed run.

Nelson, among other things, happens to be the location of the geographical centre of New Zealand. This is used as point to triangulate the distance of various different places in New Zealand and is commemorated with a plaque and weird sort of sculpture. I knew that this was less than 2km from where I was staying and so it seemed the perfect place to go for a run, close enough and has some purpose. What I had not looked into before committing to my run was that although the distance from the hostel wasn’t too far, the elevation to the point I needed to be at was a whole different ball game. Nelson happens to be on a big chunk of land, some of which was reclaimed from the sea. The town is surrounded by very large hills with dense forest and it just so happened that the point that I needed to be at was on the top of one of these hills. As I started the run I didn’t even realise it until it got to the park and saw the sign showing the trail leading up.

True to form I did try to run as much of it as possible, but anyone who knows me and my running style will know that basically means loads of massive sprints followed by a few mins of thinking that I am going to die! In the end did make it up there and was treated to a great view, even if the clouds were quite low and rolling in.

Spurred on from my success at hill climbing my run seemed to carry on and took me into the centre of the city where I somehow managed to find yet another Chinese garden before heading to the Cathedral to do some silly sprints up and down the steps in order to finally exhaust myself. After 6 times I was completely spent and started the long trudge back to the hostel to get changed and decide what I was going to do for the rest of the day. Here is why my one good fitness attribute came back to haunt me, but at least it was in a positive way. I am not someone who is great at running. I will give it a good shot and really try and push myself but after a short time my breathing isn’t very good and I end up having to stop as I cant go on. The thing that I am good at though is recovery. After a few mins I feel completely fine and as if I could go on again and it is at this point that I found myself at while walking back to the hostel. All of a sudden I felt completely fine and with the right mix of tracks playing through my headphones I suddenly had the urge to pick up the pace again so back to running I went. Onwards this time to the sea front to get a good look at the ocean. After that I was completely spend and took a slow walk home for a shower but I least I felt like I had managed to accomplish something on a crappy day.

I will certainly have to come back to Nelson again in the future during the summer and see everything it has to offer as I know I have barley scratched the surface but been chased off by too much rain and cloud. Lets hope the weather keeps up for the rest of the adventure!