Natureland.....

The following day found me with little motivation to get up and go running. Instead Tim and I went to breakfast together and then he worked on his talk in our room while I read. In the afternoon I met up with my friend, Sophie, and her sister, Jenny. First stop was Natureland. We walked through their aviary, fed the goats and followed the peacock around trying to capture the light bouncing off of it's incredible feathers. They had birds of all kinds and tuatara, the amazing, reptile found only in NZ and kin to the dinosaurs! They are incredible creatures, masters of camouflage. Even looking closely it's easy to miss them as they look like rocks.

Small Matters....

As a fun aside, the conference, AMN-7 (Advanced Materials & Nanotechnology), hosted an art exhibition at Nelson's Provincial Museum. Small Matters, showcased the incredible world of nanotechnology that can only be captured with precision instruments like electron microscopes. I took in the exhibit with a friend who is from Nelson and was back to visit family. Simply incredible! If we could afford it I would gladly have this kind of artwork in my home. :) Fascinating, bizarre and seemingly unreal.

Paradise.....

Since Tim and I have signed on for some serious running this month I knew I'd have to run outside while we're here in Nelson. This had me a little bit nervous because I've never run outside. Never. Ever. And Tim told me to be prepared. It would be hard! So this morning when he left for the conference I donned my workout gear, tied my kicks, and strapped my phone to my arm. With sunscreen and a hat I was ready to go. I stepped out of door and started to run. Right away I noticed that my ankle wasn't too happy about running on uneven surfaces. But I kept on, running down a long straight stretch adjacent to the main streets of downtown Nelson. With a few stops and starts, waiting for lights to turn, I was gasping for breath at the halfway point. It was then I realized that I had tried to track my distance and pace but hadn't turned on GPS. Mental head slap! After consulting the map I decided to run back via a different route instead of retracing my steps. This was a good and bad idea. Good in the sense that it made for a more interesting run on the way back. But bad because the last portion of the run was up not one but two hills. Granted they weren't huge but remember this came at the end of the run and I'm not a great runner! I did have to walk a few minutes but somehow managed to make it back to the hotel. I wasn't sure about my pace but figured I had done alright because I was dripping sweat. I know, attractive. Somewhere along the way a brilliant idea struck and I think it helped me get through in the end. I remembered that we had a pool at the hotel and what would be better after a long, hard run than a cool swim? Yeah, this is the best idea I've had for some time. So after arriving at the hotel I quickly switched into my swimsuit and hurried over to the pool. It was still early morning and half of pool was in shade so I figured I had some time before things would get hazardous for my fair skin. I sat on the edge of the pool and stuck my feet in. I had to laugh because even that much contact with the water was enough to make me gasp. I said to myself, "Ok, this is going to be cold!". I don't think you can ease your way in so I jumped in and let myself sink to the bottom of the pool. Indeed, the temperature of the water, even though I was hot from the run, took my breath away. Emerging from the water I let out an involuntary yelp. And feeling silly I started to laugh. I had the place to myself and spent the next 20 min swimming around but mostly floating on my back looking at the brilliant turquoise of the sky, noting it matched the water I could see out of the corner of my eyes. :) Yes, so after the soul crushing run all was made right in the world with a plunge in the pool. Paradise, indeed. I think this is what vacation is supposed to feel like. :)

Christ Church and the Queens Gardens.....

After quickly unpacking I set off with Tim, his supervisor and two colleagues as they were walking into town to start their conference activities. I figured I would walk in and get a lay of the land. We quickly found the conference venue and they were off. From there I back tracked a little bit and had to smile, thinking to myself, "Yes! I'm in Sunny Nelson and can do whatever I strikes my fancy!". With that in mind I started walking farther into the center of town and there I saw a beacon of hope. Starbucks. A jolt of caffeine over ice propelled me around town for the rest of the afternoon. When Tim and I traveled to Europe in 2013 to attend multiple conferences I researched each locale we would visit and make a list of things I wanted to seek out if I had time. I did the same for Nelson and so I whipped out my phone to peruse the Google map I had marked up. I smiled when I saw three stars on the map within very easy walking distance.

The first was Christ Church Cathedral, not to be confused with Christchurch, the city, located farther down the South Island. Set at the end of the pedestrian mall, Trafalgar Square, I spied the stone steps leading up to the cathedral. I started climbing and marveled at the hordes of agapanthus that seem to grow on every surface in Nelson. This is another flower that, when I lived in the US, I only saw arranged in floral bouquets. Gorgeous!

Multiple paths at varying levels circled the Anglican church and after a few minutes of climbing the stairs I was staring up at the cathedral. Taking in the stone carving, piers, gargoyles and stained glass I made a circuit of the place. Surrounded on all sides were lushes trees, vines and flowers, sunlight streaming through the mass. It made for an idyllic locale.

After visiting Christ Church I reconsulted Google maps and found the second star to pursue: the Suter Art Gallery. I had read about this one and wanted to take a peak. Alas, I was thwarted to find the place torn to shreds! A little disappointed I moved on to the third star that was the Queens Gardens. Nelson's own botanical gardens were quaint but lovely. Complete with a duck pond, rose garden and plenty of lush green grass where lots of people were reading, sunning or playing with their kids.

I wandered around all the paths and then found myself staring at the Huangshi Chinese Gardens: a definite highlight!

Leaving the gardens I saw that the Suter Art Gallery I wanted to visit had moved to a different location. So with a bit of energy left I set out for the new address. Upon arrival I found the place "in progress" and obviously not ready for business. I'd say that's false advertising. With that in mind I decided to call it a day and headed to a nearby grocery store to grab a few things for breakfasts and snacks.

Milk....

This afternoon Tim and I arrived in  Nelson, New Zealand. Just at the top of the South Island, a mere 35 minute plane ride from Wellington, is what people refer to as "Sunny Nelson". And it is. While we've had some beautiful weather in Wellington this summer the weather here in Nelson is even more gorgeous. More sun, less wind and less humidity. Ah, paradise. But it gets better. Well, at least for me. We are visiting because Tim has a conference and is giving a talk later in the week. And lucky me, once again, I get to tag along and lollygag for a week in Sunny Nelson. To be fair I did bring some work along and I really should do it while we're here. But we'll just have to see what the week has in store. :)

So you're probably wondering about the title of this post. Right, so as we're taxiing down the runway they announce that our bags will be available for pick up outside the front of the airport. Tim and I looked at each other and figured that had to be wrong. Since when don't you go to baggage claim? Sure enough, with such a small flight they just drove the luggage carts to the front of the airport and everyone crowded around to grab what was theirs. So with bag in hand we boarded a shuttle and were whisked to our hotel. Upon check in we were asked a question that caught me off guard. It was, "Would you like milk?". Um, what? Hmm? Soon I connected the dots, realized they were providing it for your tea (or coffee, for those of the nontraditional sort) and so we declined. Never once in the US have I been asked if I wanted milk. And we've stayed in a lot of hotels in a lot of different places. There you have it, NZ surprising us once again!

Roads....

In Back to the Future Doc Brown famously states, "Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads". Well, here in NZ roads seem to be open to interpretation. Granted this is an observation from a person who experiences traffic from a pedestrian perspective. Perhaps I would see things differently if we drove. Perhaps not. Kiwi roads, I've noticed, tend to be narrow. Very narrow. Some are so narrow you might think, "They must be one-ways". Wrong. There are many streets here in Wellington that are much too narrow to be a two lane road. And yet they are. But it gets better! More often than not people are allowed to park on one side of the street shrinking the available driving space down to practically nothing. And yet you can still drive both ways. I know what you're thinking, "What happens when two cars meet?". It's a great question and we've been able to observe these meetings on many an occasion. It's always entertaining, and usually always on a hill. One driver, there's no way to tell which it will be until it happens, will reverse back the way they came. Then the other car will zip by and the first will continue on. Yeah. I think people are so used to this kind of driving situation that they don't realize it could, or maybe should, be different. I don't know?! Two actual lanes? One-ways? No parking on streets that are less than a lane wide to begin with? These are just my crazy ideas. I had to post about this because we saw it happen again as we left campus the other day. Cars were simultaneously driving up and down this smidgen of road. It looks big enough for two cars, right? :)

February.....

February. The shortest month of the year. This is important because it makes what I'll describe in this post that much more of a challenge. So do you remember when I started posting about running last year? Yeah, the struggle. The agonizing experience, especially in the beginning. Then things got busy and I wavered in my dedication to Helga, the treadmill. After that I was off to Washington DC where I had an amazing conference and time with family and friends but came home with an incredibly sprained ankle. Not that I enjoyed running before but I did think it funny that on that trip I finally replaced my running shoes. And then because of the ankle could not use them. Well, after several weeks of slow recuperation and multiple visits to my physio he said that I should keep stretching it and start running again. Honestly, I was skeptical. I mean I was still having consistent pain, how could I abuse the joint and surrounding tissue on the treadmill? Three weeks ago I donned my workout gear and walked over to the gym. After signing in via swipe card I eyed the treadmill with unease. How could this be a good idea? Amazingly, that day I ran for 20 minutes. Even more surprising was that my ankle didn't hurt at all after the run. What?! From there I came up with an idea. It was two weeks until the end of February and I thought, "Ok, I can work my way up over the next couple weeks and then I'll do something crazy". The "crazy" I deemed "Forty Mile February": that is, run forty miles before the end of February. I figured this would get me back on track and exercising regularly. Then I told Timmy about my plan and in true form he suggested I push the boundaries even more. He said, "If you're going to do forty miles, why not do fifty?". I laughed but started considering his suggestion. Then throwing caution to the wind I decided to go for it. So it is on: Fifty Mile February! And because Timmy is a good sport and has more experience running previously I suggested he shoot for sixty-five miles. He agreed. This first week has been an exhausting grind with several consecutive days of running. I'm optimistic that we'll make it because we're doing it together; when one of us doesn't want to run the other is there to encourage. However, please understand that this is a tall order for both of us - we'll see how it goes. :)