New Zealand (April/May 2004).
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Last winter we started making our annual plans for a holiday-cum-marathon,
and decided it was time for the 'big trip' - all the way around the globe
to New Zealand. |
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Rotorua marathon fitted our criteria for size and location,
and was scheduled for 1st May. Then we found out that the WMA (World Masters
Athletics)championships
were also being held in New Zealand, a couple of weeks earlier. And we
thought - we could do that too! Why not! So we entered the 10k, ½ marathon
and full marathon, on consecutive weekends. Going all that way, we really
ought to try and get our money's-worth. What was that about tapering down
before a marathon?
Of course we couldn't go all that way just for the running - the
New Zealand scenery is much too splendid to miss.
Weeks were spent planning our route, touring both islands.
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We arrived in Auckland 4 days prior to the start of our running events, to allow
the body-clock to adjust. The efficient airport shuttle bus took us
to our hotel, near Cornwall Park, on the outskirts of Auckland. We based ourselves
there for the 2 weeks of the WMA events.
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Cornwall Park
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Our room overlooking the hotel pool |
Between the running events, we made various excursions
around Auckland.
We had a week before the Rotorua marathon, so we left Auckland,
to tour around and do some walking but it started raining.
So we headed for Rotorua, where it rained even more,
and ran the
Rotorua marathon.
A further week travelling down the
North Island
brought us to Wellington, for the ferry to the South Island.
Leaving Wellington |
The Marlborough Sound was at its best in the sunshine, and we arrived
in the evening at the pretty little town of Picton. |
Queen Charlotte Sound |
We planned to stay at St.Arnaud in the Nelson Lakes park, and climb Mt.Roberts,
but again the weather was against us, so we continued
straight on to the coast, admiring the many rainbows.
As we drove on south down the west coast the cloud was still too low for us to appreciate
the splendours of the Southern Alps. |
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Te Anau
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We headed inland towards Queenstown, but stopped overnight at Wanaka,
with time for a walk up the Mt.Roy track. We bypassed the hyper-active
'attractions' of Queenstown (partly because it was raining yet again), and
continued south via Te Anau for the boat trip around
Doubtful Sound
which was more to our liking.
(this is not a black-and-white photo,
just a late walk in moody evening light)
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Next stop was at Twizel, as a base to explore the
Mt.Cook area
(bypassing Queenstown yet again).
We continued on towards Christchurch, but made a
diversion around the Banks peninsular,
which was an unexpected gem, although Akaroa rather overdoes its
'French' relationship.
We also had time for a trip up the scenic road to
Arthurs Pass, before catching
our flight back from Christchurch. |
Mt.Cook
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