We have one more night in Christchurch before heading home. We awoke to a beautiful sunny day. It was a nice way to end our mega vacation. We had arranged for a group picture this morning before everyone goes their separate ways. It was teary (mostly on my part) but we got through it. I'm glad that part is over with. I feel like I've cried a lot during our group goodbyes. 

Devastated by an earthquake in 2011, the South Islands largest city has undergone a major transformation with its business area cleared of ruins to make way for new parks and modern earthquake-proof architecture. It's known for it's wealth of established gardens and parks, punting on the Avon river and having many heritage buildings. So, we headed to the Botanic Gardens to see the fall foliage in all its glory. We strolled beside the Avon River and, again, passed Cathedral Square, the Restart Mall, the iconic Ballantynes Department Store, the Bridge of Remembrance (a commemoration of NZ soldiers who served in various arenas of war), several statues all the while surrounded by the devastation of the earthquakes. It really is a moving, but not always pleasant, experience to be here. We all agreed that this was not how we wanted our trip to end. However, our visit certainly helps with the economy here so the fact that we were doing some good for this city made it a bit better. We also passed an iron sculpture made from five steel girders, weighing 5.5 tons, salvaged from the World Trade Centre and gifted to Christchurch by New York City to be used as public artwork in tribute to firefighters worldwide. The sculpture was created by Christchurch artist Graham Bennett. 

The Botanic Gardens were established in1863 and cover over 30 hectares in the centre of the city. There were not a lot of flowers (it is fall here, after all) but the changing colours of the leaves reminded us of home. They also have beautiful rose gardens and conservatories with magnificent plants. 

We went through the Canterbury Museum, which is located at the entrance to the Gardens, as well. It was built between 1869 & 1876 in the Gothic style for secular purposes. It houses a comprehensive selection of genuine Antarctic relics as well as one of the best mounted bird displays in the Southern Hemisphere. Other halls feature a reconstruction of a 19th century Christchurch street, and a Maori cultural section, including displays of the extinct moa and the bird's early Polynesian hunters. 

We had to change hotels and we had pretty much seen everything we wanted to, so we made our way back to our hotel through Hagley Park and around Victoria Lake and Albert Lake. We had a nice lunch at the restaurant in the hotel and had more teary goodbyes with some of the group that we ran into. Nit seems my crying was not over yet! Then it was off to our new hotel near the airport for our 6:35 am flight. Ugh!!! We have to be at the airport for 4:30 am to catch our flight to Sydney and then on toToronto. 

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and catching up with YOUR stories.