A Walk in the Park

‘A lovely nook of forest scenery, or a grand rock, like a beautiful woman, depends for much of its attractiveness upon the attendance sense of freedom from whatever is low; upon a sense of purity and of romance.’ – P.T. Barnum.

I used to drive half an hour each way every day to get to work. Now, I walk half an hour each way to get to work. When this began, I dreaded the daily walks back and forth. This was mainly because of the massive hill on the way home (it’s a bloody grind!) and the mediocre hill on the way to work (not so bad, there’s a flat bit halfway which breaks it up quite nicely).

I’ve included a map so you can see for yourselves where I walk each day:

Slowly, my outlook on the walking has improved – I still don’t jump with joy at the prospect but I’ve grown to accept it as part of my daily life. Sometimes, like today, I even enjoyed it. (It’s not that I don’t like walking – I just prefer to choose where and when I do it, rather than use it as my mode of transportation to and from work!).

Today, for the first time, I decided to walk a different way home. Normally, I choose the most direct route, which is a hard slog up Ohiro Road from Aro Valley to my house in Brooklyn. Ohiro Road is overshadowed on either side by huge trees and winds up past not one but two city parks – Central Park (anyone else spotting the New York theme here…?) and Tanera Park, which is part of the city belt (a strip of land that fits around and through Wellington in a U shape). Today, when I was walking down Aro Street (the flat part of the walk between the two hills), I started to wonder why I hadn’t walked through Central Park to get home yet. It would be nice to explore and I’m never in a rush when I’m walking home. Why not take a look?

So I did. And I am so glad I did!

I stepped off Ohiro Road onto a quiet wooded path and instantly lost the traffic noise.

A few hundred metres and I was at the main entrance to the park, in front of the map, figuring out the way through to get me home. It didn’t take long. I set off.

The first thing I noticed was the break from the noisy traffic. It felt like I’d left Wellington completely and plunged into the middle of a forest in the middle of some remote hills somewhere. All I could hear were the cicadas and the occasional bird call. It even felt as though I’d gone to a different country – my surroundings were almost jungle-like, especially with the insect noise all around. I paused to listen and revelled in the sounds of nature, rather than the sounds of cars and trucks grinding up the hill.

I heard a Tui bird call – one of my favourite noises in New Zealand. Tui’s have the ability to mimic other noises and speech, and have a huge range of weird and wonderful calls. It a hard noise to describe, but if you try the link, you should (fingers crossed this works! Tui Bird Song) get to hear one! I think they sound like a computer game. Or maybe a bit like R2D2.

A little way along the path I came to an apparently historical bridge across a small creek (so I was reliably informed by my handy map). As I crossed, I was struck by the huge, beautiful, vivid ferns growing on either side. I spent several minutes taking photos and admiring them. Another of my favourite things in New Zealand is the amazing ferns they have here – they’re absolutely stunning and make me feel like I’m in a tropical paradise whenever I see them.

I wandered along slowly, enjoying the shade and the lack of cars and the lack of people and the feeling of being in a complete wilderness, despite the fact that I knew Wellington was all around me. It took me about twenty minutes to walk from the entrance of the park to the top of the park where I exited it and joined the road once more, but it felt much less time. Normally, the slog up Ohiro Road hill makes me hot and bothered, but today I arrived home in a very cheerful mood, full of the joys of the park.

It’s safe to say, Central Park is definitely going to become a regular walk home for me, and that I am so glad I have this wonderful wilderness on my doorstep. Being a country girl at heart, it is sometimes hard constantly pounding pavements and living a city life, despite the fact Wellington is such a small city. But nature encroaches from all sides here, which is one of the main reasons why I love it and why I chose to make this place my home in New Zealand. And it’s nice to be reminded of those reasons and be taken by surprise by the beauty that is so close to my neighbourhood.