250 (Venues) Not Out

WELLINGTON 9 NOVEMBER 2025

We’re awake at 6:30 excited for the Parkrun. We drive down and park near Elm Cafe. Sadly, we learn later, there is no no cafe culture at this Parkrun. We walk to the start and announce that it’s Paul’s 250th different venue. Ambassador Richard announces that Paul is a celebrity and he is called out to the front, memories of school assemblies, although in Paul’s case, it was probably for misbehaviour 😇

It’s a pleasant course out and back along the side of the river.

We stop for coffee at Paekakariki on the coast just before Wellington. The Pacific Ocean is wild today.

On to Wellington, where we find our hotel on Brougham St, not Brougham Road as in Marsden where Bert and Joan first lived after getting married. We park outside and the owner gives us a permit for the car.

We learn that there is a mass in the cathedral at 5:30. It’s about a 50 minute walk. Rain has started to fall as we leave church. We’ve bought tickets to watch Celtic Illusions at the Opera House. It starts at 7:30 and is an entertaining mix of Irish music and dance with some illusions thrown in. The lead male worked on Riverdance under Michael Flatley.