Heading South...to find a dinosaur

Day 35 Te Anau
After being on the road for three weeks, we took a few days off from driving in Te Anau, a peaceful spot by the lake. It's pretty easy when travelling around to go for it flat out and see everything you can, but I suppose it's just as important to pause a while too, and have time to take it all in. With inspiring views, a run of good weather, and being a quiet town, Te Anau seemed like a good place. Plus, it has a great path around the lake for running. Have concluded that although I'm pleased my stamina is improving with running, I'm still running slower than usual for me. I guess it's true that if you only ever run at one pace, you will only ever run at one pace. So it was time to find a long flat path and to think of some interval training again...

I'm sure it looked slow to anyone watching, but it was fun to do it again, and doing interval training with someone else definitely makes you push a bit harder than if you are on your own...ta Andrew! Running near the Te Anau Bird Sanctuary also meant we could Wilsie the duck on the way back. It's all great of course to see exotic animals when travelling, but a finding a rescued duck who likes to be fed grass and have her little feathery head stroked is the best.

Day 36 Te Anau 
I was angry after falling down a black hole on Twitter and reading lots of abuse aimed at dietitans. In my new career, I have found these comments to not be unusual, and of course they always bother me, but not usually that much. I'm usually too busy doing the actual job to give them much thought. Today though, maybe becuase I had too much time to think, I felt really worked up about it. Normally, a long run would sort it out, so I went for that tactic, so at least I got a beautiful 14 mile run out of it, and a promise not to waste my time down the dark little hovels that you can happen across on social media. The run went along the lake to the control gates for the hydro electric power station, then continued around the lake on the start of the Kepler Track to Brod Bay, then up towards the Iris Burn Hut for a mile or so, then back. Beautiful!

Day 37 Invercargill
Today we got back on the road and headed South for Invercargill, which was the windiest place I had ever visited. We took shelter for a few hours in the Bill Richardson car museum, which is well worth a visit, before braving the weather and doing a short run around the sights of Invercargill. Firsty, the Water Tower...

Then magnificent 200 acre Queens Park - which has got pretty much everything a park should have; loads of flowers, trees, ponds, secret paths, rose gardens, a golf course...

Plus it has two additional delights. A Stumpery, which I'd never heard of, but turns out to be a Victorian invention, using storm damaged trees/ discarded wood, to transform storm damaged areas into 'natures underworld'. Oooh.

And then the brilliant Southland Museum/art gallery which was a great place to finish, and see the Tuataras - reptiles endemic to New Zealand, and who are the last survivors of an order of replies that thrived in the age of dinosaurs!

Henry the Tuatara lives there, who is now thought to be about 120 years old!