Date: 8 June
Distance: 20km

I tried my luck with Changing Threads again this year, and was lucky to be a finalist again. Twice a finalist, and twice rejected over the past five years (the competition didn’t run in 2025). That’s the way it goes – you win some, you lose some. While I wasn’t sure that it was worth making a trip to the awards function and opening of the exhibition, Gerry was keen to make it a long weekend away, so booked our flights and accommodation.

Driving down to Wellington early the Friday morning, about a two hour trip, it was raining – at times, cats and dogs. On the way we received an email from Air NZ offering a credit due to flights hanging in the balance; delays, cancellations. Gerry called the accommodation to see if they might offer a refund or credit, but we had no luck from them. So we figured we may as well get ourselves to Wellington and see what happens with the flights. And as it turned out, everything was fine. Our flight went ahead on time as planned. Luckily we didn’t take the voluntary credit option, as it is a nuisance at best. If you don’t have anything to use the credit on at a later stage, you lose out eventually. 

While down in Nelson for the awards function and browsing the galleries, meeting other textile artists which I only knew through Instagram, we decided to take one day and jog-walk some tracks and trails. 

On the Sunday morning we made our way down towards the sea where we could link up with the Matai River and walkway. On the way we bought a small bottle of water to take with, while we also took a banana on the run. We have done this route previously (https://jogaroundtheblog.co.nz/2021/08/10/nelson-runs/). Creatures of habit? I could see how much the, at the time newly planted trees and shrubs along the track have grown over the past five years. 

After we passed Black Hole, a swimming and BBQ spot, I started searching for a pee stop. In a distance was a car park and the hope was that there might be a loo. Reaching the car park (without a loo) we asked a gentleman who was getting his dog back in the car after his walk where we could find public toilets. He directed us back the way we came but just across a huge park. We had the banana there as we could get rid of the peel also. 

We decided to walk up Botanical Hill again which is the surveying centre point of New Zealand. We approached it from a different side than the previous time, which was a nice change of scenery. Coming back down we called in at the Suter Gallery for a coffee, before heading home for lunch.

We are currently on a bit of a walking spree, trying to gain walking fitness for longer trail events, and so opted to jog about 5km and walk all the rest. We covered about 14km. Content, we went back to our accommodation for some sustenance.

After some olives, cured meats and pickles, and fruit, we headed out again on another track not too far from the Admirals Motor Inn where we stayed. This time is was the hills behind Nelson, and we went for the Grampians Tracks were we did about 6km of up and down.

At the start of the track we encountered a cute cat. And then I noticed all the white feathers on the ground. Not sure if it was the cat’s work, but there was nothing other than the white feathers. No body parts. Did they come from a cushion? Not that many birds in NZ have a lily white plume, apart from the heron. And of course the rare white tui or fantail. And of course there are sea birds in the area, but it just seemed somewhat unusual.

We walker up the Collingwood Track to a grassy patch near the top where some sheep were grazing. It looked very peaceful with beautiful views across the town. A pair was having a picnic there and we also saw some other walkers on the network of tracks. Although it was chilly, it was nice outside and a good walk. If hill training was your thing, this track would be a good daily outing. 

Coming down the hill we followed the Tawa Track and before we knew it we were back at the bottom, but on a different road from where we started. We started on Van Diemen Street and finished on Endeavour Street.  

Back at our accommodation we showered and went out for dinner. With 20+km in our legs it was a good finish to our weekend.