Auckland via Ashburton and Christchurch

Left home around 11 am headed for Christchurch with a packed lunch; stopped in Ashburton for a picnic in the Botanical Gardens there.  This was a first for us although we've driven past it many times.  It was super!  A shallow pond attracts ducks and birds; the ancient trees were staggeringly tall.  The four of us together couldn't get our arms around its circumference.  Arrived Chch around 2 pm; Nick and the boys went off to the Airforce Museum leaving me at a mall (Timaru doesn't have shopping malls).  Met up again after an hour or so, found some rolls and things at a PaknSave and had an early tea seated on a bench in the middle of The Hub - feeling like total southerners amid the sea of faces and crowds of women dressed badly in too-short skirts and too-high heels.  Eventually got ourselves to Peter and Michelle who kindly babysat our car and lifted us to the airport; the flight was uneventful, we landed, were met by our booked shuttle driver and ferried to Bucklands Beach, where we finally got to bed around 10.30 somewhat tired!