Day 17 (27 July) Auckland Botanic Gardens

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The weather looked fair so after a good breakfast we set off for the botanical gardens. The entrance is free. We decided to take the guided tractor ride around the gardens for $2 each. Sitting behind us were four generations of one family. Mum is 92 and Nikita, her great granddaughter, is 2 1/2. She reminded me of Caroline at that age - vocal, energetic, bossy and full of the word "why?" in other words simply adorable but hard work - keeping up is not easy.

We went around to the Kate Sheppard garden. This is named after the woman who fought for votes for women. New Zealand was the first country in the world where women were emancipated. She is remembered on their $10 note.

Our guide told us that the "sculpture" of some statues in the park is Peter Lange, potter and brother of the late prime minister David Lange. My favourite piece was 101 shovels which Regan Gentry designed to resemble the head of a flower, but one critic (who calls a spade a spade) claims it looks like a porcupine.

One thing I found strange was seeing daffodils in full bloom in July. They bloom in a different J month - January - in the UK. We saw the rare plants, camellias and other flowering plants which we are too ignorant to name as neither of us are gardeners. We had just ended the tour and were chatting with grandma when the clouds opened and the rain started again. So we sat and had coffee with the family. A family typical of the people who had chatted to us along our travels - warm, friendly and totally non-judgemental especially when told where we live.

Once the rain gave over we went for a walk through some of the gardens until it became too cold and wet to enjoy it further. So back to the hotel to change for our dinner date. We were invited over to the flat for dinner. Another fine vegetarian fare. Gwenlli cooked sabich and falafels with pita and tahini. Then they disappeared and reappeared with a vegan chocolate cake (cooked by Gwenlli) and decorated with four candles and we sang happy birthday to Don. Then out popped a vegan banana cake cooked by Caroline and decorated with four candles and we replayed the singing. (Good thing too as Lesley was not prepared for her iPad camera shot.) This was followed by two games of Rumikub the first I won and Caroline came last and the second was the other way round. Yep even at our advanced years we are still competitive. A lovely fun evening.

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