Windy Wellington

Gung Hey Fat Choy to everyone!

The drive to Wellington would take a little over 5 hours, so I left Taupo at 8:30 am. Some parts of the motorway was pretty windy and dangerous. It was slow because of construction too. I thought I was being a smart cookie.... I drove into Wellington looking for their Information Site (each city has one and they call it the "I" Site). That was the wrong thing to do, it's like driving into downtown Vancouver, on the wrong side of the road, with all these stupid turnabouts and one way roads!. I was so lost, so turned around. I pulled over and asked a wonderful young lady how to find the I Site. I followed her directions but still got lost because of all the one way roads and construction. However, the person at the I Site was of no use to me. She did tell me that there were no Holiday Parks in the City of Wellington and that I would have to go the Lower Hutt area (suburb of Wellington) to find one. With very little directions from her, I managed to get me to the I Site in Lower Hutt. I got all the information I needed and then some... she gave me the directions of where I was to pick up my race package too. So I get myself over to get my race package only to find out that I have to go back into the city because that's where I choose pick up when I registered.

Finally got to the Holiday Park at 3:00 pm, after back tracking many times, found my site. Gobbled down a grill cheese sandwich (which never tasted so good) and headed back downtown to pick up my race package (took many wrong turns). Today was a day of getting lost and frustration. It's times like this that I wonder why I even like running!

I started to feel panicked about where this Holiday Park was and how I was going to get to the race on time. The organizers didn't seem too organized, no one knew if there was transportation for the participants to and from the event.

So I woke up the next morning with a brilliant idea. I was going to check into a hotel in Wellington for the next 3 days. Except for the fact that the World Cup of Cricket was also in Wellington, most of the hotels were booked solid. The hotel rooms available were very high end. I started digging around and found a Motorhome Park in the downtown area. So I hurried over and got a spot. Chateau Jucy is sitting in the middle of downtown Wellington, basically in a parking lot with a chain linked fence around it. People walking the Waterfront can see me cooking.

Took the cable car up to the Botanical Gardens and the Cable Car Museum. Beautiful flowers, nice gardens.....the begonias were huge!

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The day before the race I did almost nothing. The girl at the Motorhome Park said that I should hike up to the summit of Mt. Victoria. It was a 30 minute hike and as I came around to the top of the lookout I see a parking lot with tour buses and cars. I could have driven up??? I also drove the race course just to prepare myself. The rest of the day was spent on the Waterfront (in the sun) watching the Dragon Boat races and the performers.

The race was great. I still don't have my official time, but I think its around 2:20. I'm stiff and sore and should be walking normal by next week.

Tonight is my last night on North Island. The places I have seen have been amazing and breathtakingly beautiful and I have logged many km on Chateau Jucy (2,253 km). But the one thing I have found is.... I can do this! The last 14 days have been such an eye-opener for me. I'm excited to see what South Island is all about!!

Starting km: 259499
End of North Island: 261752