50 days of running

After the excitement of the Great Ocean Road, we headed back to Melbourne. There's not a whole lot of anything exciting to report running wise, other than that Run Every Day While Away has reached being 50 days old.

Hurrah! 

Most if the time it's been a great excuse to run in beautiful places and to see a lot of things that I don't think I would have done, had I not gone out for a run. It has re-cemented (if that's a thing) my belief that running has always helped me explore new places, and strengthen a connection with The Great Outdoors. 

Of course, nothing is great all of the time, and so there must be days, like the last couple (hence my reflective mood) when going out for a run seems, frankly, a bit of a drag. But, it's important to remember on these days that it's very, very rare that you will actually come back from a run feeling any worse than when you went out. You might not feel any better, but then at least you can indulge for the rest of the day (or evening, if like me you've put it off all day) in that old saying that "you've done it, and now it's done". And, you will also have good reason to complain, loudly and at length, to anyone who will listen, at the great trial you have just put yourself through....

Day 50
My, Melbourne is busy. Having not learned from my recent mistake of putting off an early morning run in the countryside, and opting instead to run later once back in the city, I spent my 40 minute evening city run in a bad mood. Cursing myself for being a fool, the incessant sets traffic lights (which were every one red), countless cars, trams, noise and oppressive city heat that was pressing down between the buildings. It all felt unbearable. Once I'd fought my way to Carlton Gardens, there was a couple of laps of respite amongst the green and flowers, when things felt a bit less terrible...

...but of course you can't run around the park forever, so soon it was back to the incessant traffic, and my bad mood.

Day 51
I had big plans for this morning. I was going to explore the whole of the South Eastern part of Melbourne on foot. I had plans of an epic run, being out for hours, with a bag of supplies, frequent water stops in the hot sunny weather, of running through the botanical gardens and of reaching the beach and running along it barefoot, and basking in the sheer joy of it all.

I hadn't planned for Melbourne being so busy that we wouldn't be able to stay in the youth hostel that night, or in fact anywhere in the city that was less than £200 a night.  £200, yes. Our travel plans are all very tedious, and I mention it here only to explain the next part of the story, in that we had to check out of the hostel by 10 and move to a hotel by the airport.

So my epic Melbourne run had to finish before that. 

Oh.

I shortened my route somewhat to 18km, and set my alarm for 6am. 

The morning was grey and cloudy. The traffic jams continued. We ran down a loooong road full of roadworks to the river, which flowed, grey and sluggish through the city. We reached the edge of the botanical gardens, but couldn't explore because of the tedious deadline to get finished and get back. Then it was down some more roads and through more roadworks to the beach, which was also windy and grey. And then turned round, and ran back through the greyness. 

It was one of those times where what I had imagined was really a lot better than the reality turned out to be. Maybe sometimes you just get yourself into a bad mood, and can't see past that, so things look different to perhaps how they really are. And maybe sometimes things just are different to how you imagined them. But there you are.

Day 52
Early flight = early run (following through with promise to self not to keep leaving my run until later). First person in the gym on the top floor of the airport hotel - hurrah! 20 minute treadmill run watching the planes land was quite exciting really, and I never thought I'd say that about a treadmill run.

The Great Ocean Road

Day 48: Apollo Bay
Left the penguins to it, and drove along the Great Ocean Road today, to Apollo Bay. Highlight was stopping at Angelsea and seeing kangaroos (real life, wild kangaroos!) on the golf course, lounging around at hole 1, ignoring all the golf balls being walloped over their heads...

Today's run was quite short, but beautiful none the less, along the beach at Apollo Bay, being attacked by a 'friendly' dog on the way, and then along the harbour, seeing brightly coloured birds on the way.

In a very exciting bending of the rules, we dropped in to the Co-Operative Fish Shop on the way back on our run and ordered dinner...sprinted back to the hostel and got changed, then rushed back just in time to pick up the most delicious fish and chips possibly on the planet. It was good because it was different - no batter on the fish but grilled and seasoned to perfection, a tasty salad, and piping hot and not greasy (an important chip consideration) chunky chips. A culinary masterpiece! 

Day 49: Port Fairy
Highlight! Had breakfast in the roof terrace of the hostel, and a koala was eating his breakfast in the eucalyptus tree next to us!

Today we finished driving the rest of the Great Ocean Road to Port Fairy (which I would have travelled hundreds of miles to visit for it's name alone). The road was fantastic...including the Twelve Apostles...

The Arch...

And London Bridge, which used to be attached to the mainland by another arch, until 1990 when it collapsed. Crikey. Eventually the other arch will collapse too, and leave 2 columns, like the 12 Apostles...

After much gazing in awe, we got to Port Fairy, which was just like it's name suggests-  a fairy tale of a place, with pretty 19th centuary wooden houses, wide streets lines with trees, and a truly wonderful one hour long run along the river (past beautifil houses and lots of sailing boats) and then around Griffith Island....

Some running in Melbourne

Day 45: Melbourne
Back to Australia today, to Melbourne. I'd been totally looking forward to coming here, but I'll be honest, after the space and quiet of New Zealand, it felt a bit of a shock. It was colder, for one. It was a cloudy, dusky time of day, and the greyness and noise was amplified by the fact we were staying near the train station, in a room in a hostel who's high, concrete walls were painted the pale green of a prison cell (or how I imagine prison cells to look). Well. My dissatisfaction with my situation was yet still heightened by the thought that I hadn't done my run that day, as I was still feeling that wierd drained apathetic feeling you get with a cold. Run Every Day almost met it's end, but managed to hold on by a thread, as we pulled ourselves out into the gathering gloom and hustle and bustle. The first few minutes of the run were along the North Bank, through the promisingly named Batman Park, and some distinctly East London like grity areas. All of a sudden though, something shifted and things brightened, we crossed a bridge to the South Bank and views of the city lighting up appeared, countless bridges, trees lit with fairy lights, and restaurants and bars by the river started buzzing. We ran a bit further and came to a section of boat houses with canoes and oars propped outside, with the silhouette of the Olympic stadium in the background. It was all rather nice really.

I decided I did like Melbourne, after all. After a long day at work, when the weather is rubbish, I don't look at my best either, so its probably unfair to judge a city based on a first impression at that time.

I thought about it for a while, and also decided that the River Yarra running through Melbourne, is much like following the River Thames through London, but it just all happens quite quickly, in a couple of miles rather than 20 or so. You've got the docklands on the edge, and the warehouses that are undergoing a lot of regeneration (like a lot of East London), a bit of a grimy bit (which cleverly was the part I chose to stay in), then there's the city bit with all the high rise buildings and neon lights, then in the central bit it's all obviously done up nicely with restaurants and bars by the river and interesting buildings and bridges, then a bit further up there's the boat houses and rowing (like in Putney) and lots of trees and it feels like the Thames towards Richmond. Yes, it all feels quite familiar.

Day 46: Melbourne
The next day, we ran in the other direction towards to the docklands and Yarra Edge. It wasn't my finest run, I felt really unwell, and then Andrew did, so in the end we had to have a coffee break to recover. That worked though, so then we did a little more. It was nice and sunny, and Melbourne looked all sparkly in the sunshine. In the afternoon, we walked back down the River to the 'Pop-Up Globe' to see Othello. So there's another similarly, at least for a while, Melbourne has a Globe on its banks. I also felt I could mention this here on Time On Your Feet, as we went as groundlings, and watched the performance stood up on the floor bit by the stage, which I think is the Shakespearean version of the cheap seats. Basically it was an extra 2.5 hours of time on your feet, and also way more interactive them an being sat in seats further back - great fun!

Day 47: Melbourne
A blast of interval training in Batman Park to start the day. Enjoyed a shorter and punchier workout, which was a nice start to a nice day with drive to Phillip Island...to see koala bears!!!!

And then later on to see the Little Penguin colony! I've become totally addicted to penguins on this trip. This was much like the colony we visited in New Zealand, but much much bigger. The night we visited over 1100 Little Penguins came home. The weather was atrocious, but sitting on the beach and watching them waddle up it together, made it feel like a warm homely place, kind of. There are lots of boardwalks up in the dunes you can walk along without disturbing the penguins, and watch them go back to their burrows. It's their breeding season right now, and my, they make a noise trying to show off to each other. You can't take photos here either, so as not to frighten the penguins, so I've stolen another photo from their website, which shows how cute they are...

❤❤❤

A last run in New Zealand

Day 44
Today, it was time for the last run in New Zealand. I was sad about this, and also feeling a bit below par. Must have picked up a cold somewhere, and had a bad headache, so was feeling a bit iffy.  No point in moping though - and a  tranquil 30 min jog along the River Avon in Christchurch Botanical Gardens cheered things up. The unusually warm weather was continuing, and it was sunny and peaceful running amonst the flowers and trees. And it had a glass house full of exotic looking leaves. 

New Zealand has been full of lots of new experiences. Driving an automatic car. Thinking that a 3 hour drive is a 'short' driving day, and driving 5000km in 5 weeks. Seeing volcanoes, hot mud pools (and sitting in some), running to hot water beaches where the water steams and the air smells of sulphur, and going to places with names like 'Craters of the Moon' and accepting this as seeming a totally logical name for a place. Seeing glaciers, and icebergs, and fjords, and waterfalls. Walking around giant Kauri trees, and cracking your neck to stare up through the branches and imagining that the lands of The Magical Faraway Tree might not be that far away after all. Seeing a petrified forest, at the same time as realising that actually exists. Walking through caves with skeletons of long extinct animals scattered on the floor.  And seeing rocks, but not normal rocks, but rocks with names like Pancake Rocks. Seeing places where the water is  an other-worldly luminous chalky blue colour, and being mesmerized as it flows on down the gorge it has carved out on its way from high up in the mountains. The mountains, so many mountains! Looking at the landscape and without too much effort, imagining a hobbit frolicking over the grass covered hills. Seeing yellow eyed and blue penguins in the wild, mountain parrots, and fur seals relaxing on their rocks as the sea crashes around them. And seeing unusual things like Tuaturas, but equally as excitingly meeting a friendly duck who likes to be fed grass and have her head stroked. Experiencing vastly variable weather (even more variable than in England). Never being far from the ocean, but seeing it in a hundred different moods. Looking at Art Deco buildings. Tasting interesting new wines. Shopping in giant supermarkets with shelves up to the ceiling called  things like 'Pak n Save'. Being able to buy giant juicy bright green kiwi fruit, and golden ones too.

I felt a bit intimidated before arriving here that I might not be able to take part in much, as I imagined New Zealand to be full of giant mountains covered in snow,  and being neither skiier nor climber, I thought that maybe I would be able to look on in wonder, but not do much. I was pretty much as wrong as I could be, which usually is a difficult thing to discover, but on this occasion something I was happy to realise! I've spent 5 weeks looking in wonder, but also in doing a wonderful assortment of wonderful things. It's been terrific. Wonderful. Wonderfully terrific.

What a fabulous country!

The Iceberg Marathon (Aoraki/ Mount Cook)

Day 43 and time for a marathon adventure. We are in Mount Cook, and happily the lady who checked us in to the Youth Hostel knew some local running routes...so we stuck some together to make a marathon - it was tremendous and my favourite run so far! We ran up the Hooker valley all along a wonderful stone track, over swing bridges, and marvelling at the mountains around. The path ends at Hooker Lake with mind blowing views of Mount Cook and the surrounding peaks. The Hooker Glacier is melting into the lake, so that there are icebergs (my first time to see an iceberg)....

We saw giant Mount Cook Buttercups...

...and a helicopter flying back and forth up the valley emptying the mountain loo!

We ran back down the valley to Mount Cook Village, then on down the valley on the Alps 2 Ocean cycle route, to the airport, back to the village, and then another airport loop. 

The weather was fantastic, baking hot in the valley. Apparently, this kind of weather is unusual for the season-  but the morning of the day we arrived it suddenly got really hot, it was beautiful the whole time we were there, and then the morning we left it was raining. Strange how sometimes things just all work out at the right moment. It was an amazing run - one I will never forget!

And, I've learnt the Māori word for 'hill', which is going to be incredibly easy to remember....

Long lost friends, and more penguins

Day 40 - Dunedin
Today's run was fabulous, because while we were staying in Dunedin, we were staying with my old uni friend Chantal and her family! We worked out it must be 8 years since we last saw each other! It was so good to catch up on everything, and meet her new baby. He usually gets a free ride in his buggy when Chan runs (babies are so lucky), but today he got to chill out at home with his dad, so Chantal, Andrew and me did an awesome route, all along the coastal road with lovely views, and a sneaky hill. 8km of fun! Thanks Chan! I was so excited I forgot to take any photos, but here's our route...

Day 41 - Oamaru 
After leaving Dunedin, we headed up the coast to Oamaru, which is famous for being the steam-punk capital of the world. Keen to explore, we headed out for a late afternoon run, which turned into a fairly long run, so much was there to see! There were beautiful botanical gardens...

 ...wonderful old Victorian buildings and the steam-punk bit.....

...and a totally gigantic hill called Tyne Street...

At the top of the hill, I was suffering from a lack of oxygen, and so made a rash decision to keep on running. There was a yellow eyed penguin colony a little way out of town, so we decided to head there, just in case we might see one. The yellow eyed penguins are already really rare, but they have less than 20 birds now in this colony, as recently a lot have been killed by barracouta. The viewing platform is really high up the cliff and away from the beach the penguins live on, to keep them protected. But we saw one, just a tiny dot making it's way up the beach. Even from a long way off, there's still something really distinctive about their walk, and it was amazing to spot another one of these special birds.

Still in the penguin zone, that evening we went to the Blue Penguin Colony in Oamaru. It's not at all related to running, but I have to mention it as it was one of my favourite parts of the whole trip! Blue penguins/little penguins/ fairy penguins are the world's smallest penguin, only 30cm tall and 1kg in weight! A small colony first arrived in Oamaru in the early 90s and the Blue Penguin Colony was set up to protect them and to learn more about them. In the evening, you can sit and await the penguins arriving back from their day at sea. It's really exciting, sitting there as it's getting dark, listening to information from the staff....and waiting for them to come back! They arrive back in groups or 'rafts' ...which is guess is sort of like mass commuting - they fish alone, but regroup about 500m off shore and come ashore together. They all come out of the water making a huge noise (a bit like ducks) and waddle up the rocks together and then dash across the grass to their nesting huts. A penguin can swim 50km in a day, so can be pretty tired when they get back, so lots of them hang about on the rocks for a while, resting and preening, and looking like they are having a good natter to each other. It was truly a magical sight to watch, we were there for almost two hours, but it was so transfixing it only felt like a heart beat! 184 penguins came back during the evening. 3 of them even took a detour and walked right along underneath the seats! Because lights and flashes frighten penguins you can't take photos, but this is a photo from the Blue Penguin Colony website which has got loads of information, and you can check how many penguins have come back each night, how many eggs and chicks there are....

Day 4 - Oamaru 
I really loved Oamaru, and in a weird way I enjoyed running up the massive hill on Tyne Street, so fitted in a quick run before we left. In the botanical gardens I found some unusual flowers and an aviary with some fluffy chickens! 

PENGUINS!!!!

Day 38: Invercargill -  Slope Point - Curio Bay PENGUINS!

Ok so today didn't start with penguins, but I'm too excited to save it until later! I actually saw a wild penguin in the wild!!!

Rewind to earlier, and the day actually started pretty well. I went back to Queens Park to do a pre breakfast run, and pretty much literally ran into a gang of ducklings....

Cute!

Things took a bit of a downer when I fell down a drain and hit my head on a gutter while I was trying to look through the window of the Tuatara house. But searching for dinosaurs has never been easy.

We left Invercargill, which until that point had been the windiest place I had ever experienced, and headed South. Very south, to the Southern most point of mainland New Zealand. Which is called Slope Point, and quickly asserted itself as the new windiest place I have been.

It was hard even to stand up! From here we headed to Curio Bay, where we stayed in an old fashioned gypsy caravan for the night.

 The wind continued, and seemed to be getting even worse, if that was even possible. Concerned that the caravan might take off, we headed for the beach  (which, off course, was a great idea in high winds). Curio Bay is a striking bay, especially in dramatic weather! 

The area is known to have some Yellow Eyed Penguins, but they are really rare and you're lucky to see them. Also, they get stressed very easily by humans so you can't get too close. They go out to sea in the day to fish, and then return to their burrows on the shore in the late afternoon/evening. It was about 5pm when we were on the beach, and we were going to head back to the caravan (if it was still there) but I really wanted to see if there were any penguins around, so I annoyingly insisted we walk right to the other end of the beach. I stopped to watch some other sea birds, pondering our poor luck at not finding a penguin,  when suddenly a penguin glided right out of the water on his belly, and started waddling up the beach, stopping every so often to preen his feathers! I wasn't sure what to do, as he was right next to me, but i knew we weren't meant to be that close to each other in case he got frightened. And I was shocked, so who knows what he'd have thought. So we sat quietly on a rock, and watched him walk up the beach to the cliff, where his burrow must have been. What a moment! I felt very privileged to have been in just the right place at the right time, and seen nature just going about its business. Penguins do have a really tough life, but this little dude had made it back from another day, and was walking up the beach, just like he'd finished a day in the office and was headed back home, taking it in his stride. Remarkable creatures.

Day 39: Curio Bay - Dunedin

Somehow, the gypsy caravan was still in the right place in the morning, although all through the night I could hear the wind howling around and shaking it to its wheels. It was pretty cozy though, with a log fire and wrapped up under blankets listening to the storm.

Early next morning we did a quick run to the Petrified Forest...

Which is an ancient fossilized forest (can't see too well here as is better seen at low tide). I was petrified of the waves. Is it always this windy here?! 

After the run, we headed up the coast, where finally the wind dropped. I was excited as we were off to visit my old uni friend Chantel and her family in Dunedin....and Chantel is a runner too!