March 12, 2014. Christchurch, New Zealand. The Botanical Gardens.

The Gardens are right across the street from our apartment at the YMCA, which is why we chose the place. The gardens are big, even bigger than Central Park. And it is beautiful. The gardens were developed in 1920, with many trees planted immediately, so by now the trees are large. The planting beds are changed every three months, so the 26 gardeners have their hands full. It is a beautiful place and we enjoyed our tour, especially because our driver/guide Jurgen, gives tours on the gardens when he is not away touring New Zealand, so we toured the place with him. He loves the gardens and is knowledgable about the plants and trees so we had fun and also learned a lot. Ken, Gill and I ate a late lunch in the Curators restaurant, which is perhaps the best restaurant in Christchurch. The lunch was delicious. This evening we attended a physics lecture, given by the Royal Scientific Association. The young scientist associated with Gill was introducing the speaker, which is why we went to the hour lecture. The lecture was interesting but what I observed most of all was that at least a third of those attending were high school students. The lecture was held in a high school auditorium holding 1000. It was almost full. I was amazed at the interest shown on a week night at 6:00. It was an interesting event that I could only have attended in New Zealand. And Gill bought the tickets too.