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Botanical Park, Christchurch
Dec. 3rd - Museum Displays
It didn't warm up overnight as we had
hoped! Almost the entire trip in the New Zealand has been
cool. They tell us that the summers are very hot and dry. We
drove into the central city and went to the
 Botanical
Park. Christchurch is famous for it's parks. One of the first
things platted in most cities seems to have been park land.
This park is huge and sits right on the edge of the city
center. A river flows through the middle of it with walkways
on both sides. They have a beautiful rose garden. We continue
to be lucky with full blooms. The conservatory was quite large
but didn't impress us.
At one of the entrances of the park is the Canterbury Museum.
It is devoted to the settlement of the region and natural
history. There was a nice mock street filled with stores
stocked as they would have been in the late 19th century.
Christchurch was first settled in the 1850's. It was an
inhospitable location to live. Unfriendly natives and swampy
land greeted those first people. Only 2% of the wetlands are
left and very few native looking peoples. The North Island had
a much larger Maori population.
 Other
displays in the museum show period furnishings, native birds,
dinosaur bones and fossils, and Christchurch today. NZ is
quite environmentally friendly. We frequently see stickers for
"GE free NZ". That's not General Electric! Christchurch boasts
that it doesn't need to treat it's water. The underground
springs are so pure. There are many free flowing drinking
fountains about the city.
If there is one thing that bothers me about NZ, it's the
housing density. For a country with so much space, we don't
understand the need to pack nice houses on small lots.
Existing older homes are subject to demolition and 3 new ones
are built on the same lot. Most older homes have had the back
yard sold off and a second home built on it. When you figure
the space for a the driveways, there's not much yard left.
What space isn't built on or paved, is planted with beautiful
gardens. Most homes in NZ are surrounded by flowers. The cost
of housing has risen dramatically in NZ over the past year.
News articles talk about economists concern about overheating
prices.
 After
an afternoon of studying, we went to Caddyshack City
Mini-golf. It's the first inside Putt-Putt I've seen. AD
begged our entire stay in Christchurch to go play. They don't
have to worry about bad weather with it inside! Each hole had
a different theme, like a harbor, coal mine, airport, ski
resort or mountain stream. Since it is inside, there were
mechanical parts on most holes. DW beat me by one putt when I
shot poorly on hole 17.
The Park was busy tonight. School groups seem to stay during
outings. A girl from Fairlie was in one of them today. AD
played in the playground with them. The swimming pool was
annoyingly loud next to our room. We watched Survivor,
Pearl Island and wondered if we would be able to get to
sleep.
Relaxing in Wahia...»
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Botanical
Park. Christchurch is famous for it's parks. One of the first
things platted in most cities seems to have been park land.
This park is huge and sits right on the edge of the city
center. A river flows through the middle of it with walkways
on both sides. They have a beautiful rose garden. We continue
to be lucky with full blooms. The conservatory was quite large
but didn't impress us. 
Other
displays in the museum show period furnishings, native birds,
dinosaur bones and fossils, and Christchurch today. NZ is
quite environmentally friendly. We frequently see stickers for
"GE free NZ". That's not General Electric! Christchurch boasts
that it doesn't need to treat it's water. The underground
springs are so pure. There are many free flowing drinking
fountains about the city.
After
an afternoon of studying, we went to Caddyshack City
Mini-golf. It's the first inside Putt-Putt I've seen. AD
begged our entire stay in Christchurch to go play. They don't
have to worry about bad weather with it inside! Each hole had
a different theme, like a harbor, coal mine, airport, ski
resort or mountain stream. Since it is inside, there were
mechanical parts on most holes. DW beat me by one putt when I
shot poorly on hole 17. 
