• Drive to Christchurch
• Christchurch botanical gardens
• Art Gallery

Drove up to Christchurch today - after a brief walk along the river's edge at Lake Tekapo we headed off. This was about a 3 hr drive, mostly with amazing scenery and more sheep! Unfortunately, either due to operator error or software error, the Tom Tom took us right past our first destination (cookie time) and it wasn't until 20km later that we realised. Fortunately we were well ahead of time, so detoured back. The factory, while it appears impressive from the outside, isn't actually accessible, and only a small shop area accessible. So while the prices in the shop are fantastic (about 1/3 of the retail elsewhere) the factory itself isn't really worth thee visit.

Arrive at accommodation about 2:20 - Best & Western Camelot - which is well themes to its name, with turrets everywhere, cobblestone roads, full knight's armor, etc… The location is great for walking into the city - but it is very central, so from a driving perspective is a pain. We walked from the hotel through parklands to the botanical gardens, which while nice, and much more popular than the ones in Dunedin (i.e. there were about 5 people in the gardens in Dunedin, whereas here there would be many hundreds) but we didn't think they were really all that impressive… Walked into the city center - which is very similar to Perth, if it weren't for the difference in road signs, it would easily pass as Perth.

Once again, visited the art gallery, this was better than Dunedin (Although a kindy classroom of art would be better) which was perhaps because half of it was closed… it did have some impressive art, but we were happily able to view all the art in about 10 minutes.