Oct 22nd – It’s a good job today was a lovely sunny day since neither of us got much sleep last night. What to do when an alarm clock starts ringing at 4:15am and doesn’t stop for two hours? Obviously the cleaning staff didn’t check it when the last person moved out and we weren’t sure which room it was in. Since the front desk isn’t staffed at night, we didn’t realize we could call the duty manager to check it out – found this out in the morning.

Today was our day to visit the Auckland Botanic Gardens – about 20 hectares of plants, walks and beautiful gardens. Since the weather was so cooperative we found ourselves outside for a good three or four hours – resulting in a bit of colour! The sun here is hotter and much more intense since there is a hole in the ozone layer, so you do have to be careful about sunburn.

The rhodos and camelias here are just about finished although some of the later ones were just finishing up. The roses however are in full bloom and there were so many different kinds, I  was like a kid in a candy store with the camera. They had a special test garden in which there were some new hybrids – the blooms were so large they were like a dinner plate. I’ve made a list of some of our favourites to see if they might be available in Canada.

After dinner at a restaurant close to our apartment, we retired to watch to CBC News and catch up on all the goings on at home.