The Centre of New Zealand and Miyazu Gardens

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Yesterday our move/exercise goals were not achieved so today we really needed to do something active. After lunch we borrowed Sandra’s car again and headed to Botanical Reserve in Nelson so that we could hike up to the trig point that marks the geographical centre of New Zealand.

We drove past the park on Sunday with Robin and Sandra, but we didn’t stop. Today we had time to read the interpretative boards in the park and we leant that the park lays claim to being the venue for the first rugby game played in New Zealand. Apparently this claim to fame has been hotly disputed for more than 100 years and it is only relatively recently that Botanical Park has been officially recognised as THE site of the first game of rugby!

After reading the signs we walked across the playing fields before commencing the steepish climb to the top of Botanical Hill where the centre of New Zealand is acknowledged with the official trig point marker and an overhead sculpture/pointer. After being a bit cloudy during our drive into Nelson, the sky had cleared and we had magnificnet views over autumnal Nelson, Tasman Bay and the mountains of the north/west of the South Island.

As we re-traced our route to Richmond we stopped in at the Miyazu Gardens which are planted in Japanese style to commemorate the link between sister cities Nelson and Miyazu. While obviously Japanese in style the gardens seemed a bit in need of some pruning and manicuring to restore the precise order that is usually associated with a Japanese Garden. There were some men at work so perhaps the gardens are receiving some much needed TLC?

We stopped in at the supermarket for some ingredients as we had offered to cook dinner tonight. After chicken with cornflake and parmesan crumbs it was time to play cards again.

I won my first game of Jo to take the tally to Bernie: 2, Robin: 1, Tracey: 1 and Sandra: 0. The Gaffneys won Bolivia tonight to take us into the lead ... by a very narrow margin. We are not counting our chickens yet!

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Comments

[Stephen Gatt]

Nice Gardens
Yesterday it was aviation museums, today gardens - what is next? Lighthouses? Archaeological sites? I am getting jealous. Good luck with the Bolivia.

[Robyn Smith]

Hello from Dunedin
Glad to hear you are having a wonderful time with your friends and exploring NZ. We are here as well and look forward to getting together when you return. Love Robyn and Ian

[Caroline]

Centre on NZ.
How fortuitous that the weather cleared for you at the top!! Love the photos you took. You must have been so happy with the view after walking to the top. Hope to visit NZ soon.