Running in New Zealand with my dad

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Our proof we made it to the top!

 Our 4th week in New Zealand we met up with my Dad and Stephanee in Queenstown. None of us had much of a desire to stay in Queenstown, so we stayed just down the road in Historic Arrowtown. Arrowtown has a cute little downtown area designed to look like it did during the gold rush, with stone cottages, tree lined streets and saloons. Arrowtown also claims to be the biking and hiking center of Wakatipu. So I figured I should be able to find a trail to run on pretty easily.

Father and daughter selfie

Dad and I decided to do exactly that before we all headed out to go wine tasting in the afternoon. We didn't have much of a plan except to head to the Arrow River Trail and hopefully find a trail that spurs off of it, since the Arrow River Trail loop is probably only a 20 minute run. We did find another trail, which if I recall correctly was the Tobins Track. As soon as we turned onto the trail it started to climb, which pleased me, but I wasn't sure about my dad. I turned around a few times to see how he was doing and of course he was fine and still (slowly) jogging up the hill. Not knowing how far the trail went, I finally turned around and ran back to him and said we could turn around. He said that he had asked some hikers if the trail ever ended, and they said we were very close. And just a few minutes later we were at the top and were rewarded with some amazing views.

view from the top

The hill was about 1000 foot gain in 2.2km. I was very impressed that my dad kept going to the top. A lot people who don't run hills and weren't expecting that kind of climb would of turned around. It is obvious where I get my running abilities from.
Location: Arrowtown, New Zealand

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