We arrived at our hotel in the early evening and had a very warm welcome from the hosts Trudy & Eian.
After unpacking we had a lovely meal in the hotel restaurant - Blue Cod, a first for us and it was delicious! As was the sticky date pudding we had for dessert!! After dinner we caught up with some emails and read for a bit before bed.
Sunday morning we headed out to explore Invercargill. Invercargill is New Zealand’s southernmost city, and the commercial hub of Southland although on a Sunday morning it is very, very quiet!
Invercargill is a well-planned city with wide, tree-lined streets and many parks and reserves. Queen’s Park is the best-known reserve in the city centre. A botanical reserve featuring formal gardens, including rose gardens.
We strolled through this beautiful park and went to the local farmer’s market to see what they had for sell - there were a few stalls most selling local produce which included organic fruit and veg, flowers, cheeses and breads.
Strolling back through the gardens we passed the 18-hole golf course where we watched a few golfers tee off before making our way to the Southland Museum and Art Gallery.
Apart from its three art exhibition galleries, the Museum which is housed in a pyramid-shaped building near to the entrance of Queen’s Park, contains displays outlining the area’s human and natural history. It is one of the most captivating and interesting museums we have visited to date and we spent several hours there.
It also features a tuatarium where we saw several of New Zealand’s “living fossil” at close range. The tuatara. We were also lucky enough to see babies in the enclosure who were surprisingly active!
Earlier in the day we had met a couple who told us that there was a big band competition later in the park so, before returning to the hotel we made our way to the bandstand where several “Scottish” pipers/bands
were performing - they were very colourful and we stayed in the park and watched the performances and the locals who had all turned out to enjoy the afternoon sunshine and free entertainment.After our educational and cultural experience(!) we headed back to the hotel with the Sunday papers and spent the remainder of the day relaxing and catching up with emails.
Dinner was pizza from a local pizzeria but, pizza with a difference. Vegetarian and vegan varieties with toppings of spinach, cashews, pineapple, capiscum, chillies and refried beans - they were delicious!!
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