Waitangi Day in Otautahi

Thursday 6 February

Final push to Christchurch - just as everyone there was heading out of town for Waitangi Day! You could tell it was a holiday too, because the sun forgot to shine ☁️

We parked up at the NZMCA site down to the south of the city and were excited to spy the Tasman Travels van - Tom & Jord are travel bloggers and good friends of Mairi & Tim’s. I was also excited that there was a communal jigsaw puzzle on the go so had to spend a wee while putting together this fella's yellow trews and shirt.

Down at the mall we spotted this glorious Cadillac De Ville which I thought we should buy as it matched our colour scheme... but it didn't have a tow ball.

After a Banjo lunch we headed into town to do a couple of chores and then catch up with Ella & Josh at the Botanic Gardens. Miraculously the sun had broken through and it was a beautiful afternoon. We had iced drinks at the Ilex Cafe then enjoyed/endured the Rose Garden and strolled around the expansive grounds. It was quite funny as Ella and I were having a dispute over how to pronounce "Dahlia" - she said DAR-lia whereas I say DAY-lia... then as we wandered past the incredible Dahlia beds we heard an intergenerational family having the same argument but the other way round generationally!

The roses were stunning, most of them in full bloom and many emitting such a beautiful aroma which supermarket cut roses lack. Heading back through the gardens we came to the compass around the mini observatory and I had to take another pic of the carved compass which I fully intend to have as my second tattoo - once I finally get my Carpe Diem pink ribbon one (12 years and counting... it's quite a long Diem!)

Took the Pajero for a carwash on the way back and could hardly believe how sparkly & clean it looked after days covered in off-road dust!

Sadly the central city sunshine had not reached Weedons NZMCA so our solar power was a little low - but enough to see us through. We BBQed another butterflied chicken for dinner (manuka and rosemary marinade - yum) and I did get a bit more of the blog done! Unfortunately the Tasman Travels guys were out so never got to say kia ora.