Today in Timaru was fine, which is how they describe beautiful weather. Timaru comes from the Maori word meaning "place of shelter." It is a thriving port city.

We started our day by visiting the South Canterbury Museum in the Pioneer Hall on Perth Street. It is a great, if small, museum which includes exhibits on early settlers, whalers, natural history. One particularly interesting exhibit is about Richard Pearse, pioneer aviator and inventor. According to records, he was the first to achieve powered flight on 31 March 1902, nine months before Orville Wright did the same. Pearse designed and built his plane out of junk and without an education.

Unfortunately some of his neighbors were very hostile to him and referred to his inventions as the work of the devil. Some would throw potatoes if he would fly overhead.  

Despite the controversy about who was first, he was definitely first to use the tricycle form with a single wheel and the first to use a metal propeller. Poor Richard Pearse died in a psychiatric hospital in 1955, virtually unknown to the outside world.

Then we went to the Timaru Botanic Gardens. The gardens, while not as extensive as those in Oamaru, was a very fine place for a walk. It is also a popular place for a picnic, which is what we did for our lunch.

Our third stop was to the Aigantighe Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden. The Art Gallery (pronounced "Egg And Tie" and which is Scottish Gaelic for "at home" was the home of Helen Grant, who donated it for the Art Gallery when she died. Of course, we couldn't take photos of the wonderful art inside the gallery, but it is recognized as one of the best galleries in NZ.

An international Stone Carving Symposium was held in 1990 as part of the Aoraki Festival. The works that were created were gifted to the Aigantighe Sculpture Garden.   

After the gardens, we went to the beach at Caroline Bay for a walk and some exercise. There was a cruise ship at the dock and we could hear a drum and pipe band entertaining the tourists returning to their ship.