Tuesday, March 17, 2020

New Zealand 20/20 trip: Day 9 The centre of New Zealand



By the numbers
16.81 kms
24,392 steps

I did have huge plans for today that would see me scuttling off to many places in as little time as I could, but that didn’t really happen. I got up a little later as I needed some sleep, which was a good thing. The first place I went to was to get some food and I filled myself up at Maccas while two people debated the Covid 19 stuff. One of them had read up on it and was some sort of professor and he took down the guy he was talking to. It was about hospital admission rates and Britain.

There was something that I wanted to hunt down and that was a cemetery I had noticed that I wanted to get to. On the way I was looking at the Nelson Cathedral and was planning to look at some defences made behind that. I hoped to look at them on the way back from the Geographical Centre of New Zealand. Plans never turn out like that at all. They never do when I am around. I found a sign in a bookshop that told me if I have been travelling within the last 14 days, not to enter and if I had a cold too. Wont be good if people start putting them up in food places or else it would be a riot somewhere. Doesnt seem right to me, but the times are different now. I was looking for an old burial ground in the nearby streets to the Cathedral and I eventually found it. I had been looking on the wrong side of the street. No wonder it was difficult to find when I wasn’t looking in the right place.  There wasn’t much left of the cemetery, but it was interesting to walk around.

I was still heading for the Centre of NZ when I came across several things nearby. One was a heritage park, Albion Square that was to do with government in Nelson. One of the things there was the oldest mailbox in New Zealand that had come from Sydney and still surviving. The other thing I came across and by accident as I had to use the loo pretty badly, because bodily functions are a betrayal system at times. That was a monument to the first game of rugby in New Zealand that was played in Nelson. I always seem to find the interesting things. I knew the geographical marker was up a hill, but didn’t think I had to walk all the way up another hill in the days that I had done a bit of bush walking. It wasn’t so bad as I ended up at the marker and there were several other people there. One was saying there are usually large amounts of people on the hill at that time of morning, yet there wasn’t now. The view was really nice as it was a clear day, so you could see the mountains in the distance. I thought about walking to the Japanese garden, but thought better until I came to the branch in the track I decided to take that branch as it was near where the cemetery was. I had to walk across farm land and you could tell due to the droppings on the ground. It was semi private, but you couldn’t have your dog there. I would end up near Founders Park, which was like the one I went to several days ago that had heritage type buildings. I ended up having to go another way down via the street as they were cutting down trees.

I did stop for the loo in the Japanese park and they had a water filling station there, so all was good for me not to run out of water on my wander. Google maps was telling me one way to walk up the hill to visit the Wakapuaka cemetery, which was another of the older cemeteries in Nelson. I came across a path that had a sign saying walking trail, so I took it. I found the cemetery alright and was able to climb over the fence to get inside. I did walk around the cemetery for a little while and looked up some names while I was there. I didn’t know anyone of great note, but I came across some like Thomas Brunner of Brunner mine fame, a lady who was prominent in the area. There was even a light post to someone who had turned down a tobacco deal. I did enjoy walking around the cemetery and thought it was great that I had come the way I had or else I would have been buggered walking up the hill even if the road was windy. There were sheep eating amongst the graves which were different.

I could have caught a bus back if I really wanted to, but I was more than happy to have a nice wander back into town. My lunch had been a muesli bar as I wandered the cemetery. What I was walking on was also a bike lane. I soon found out why the town was named Nelson. One of the settlers had served with Nelson so named the streets after the ships and people who were at either the Nile battle, or Trafalgar. I thought that it was interesting and a good way to tell the story of the city. I was planning on finding the old Quaker cemetery near to where I was staying, but I ended up chilling in the information centre where I found there was a tour I never knew about at the Pics peanut butter factory. I walked on soon after and seen there was a movie I would like to see being shown at the exact time I entered the building. Seems because of the virus, I wasn’t allowed to being my bag inside and had to leave it at the counter. I would say it wasn’t a virus, but people bringing food inside the theatre that they were stopping. I needed a rest for a bit and this was it. A movie that helped me to relax. Afterwards, I decided it was time to call it a day as I needed the rest and it was time for some food. Tomorrow is the day that I travel to Wellington on the bus and the ferry, so should see how busy things are and what is going to happen when I arrive in Wellington. Should be interesting times to see what happens.

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