Today we opted for a relaxing day and hoped to spend some time on the beach…wrong!

it is cold and grey today and not a day to sunbathe at all. We went into the town and found a coffee shop.

Next we visited the information centre and paid to have a tour of and explanation of Maori rock drawings. A Maori lady told us many things about her culture and how the Europeans had wrongly assumed lots of facts about the drawings and their meanings.

She made her talk so interesting and from the heart, I found myself welling up with tears. I will remember all she said for ever.

So next we went to the Timaru botanic gardens. They were formal Victorian style gardens with traditional beds and different themed gardens, surrounded by many tree varieties. No rainforest plants were featured at all.

The rest of the day we travelled to Fairlie to our favourite bakery for a late lunch.

Much to our indignation we were stopped by the police for travelling too slowly.

65 to 80 in a 100kper hour. You can be fined here for travelling too slowly !

Back at the B&B we went for a walk along the cliff path for about half an hour. We came to a marshy area and saw lots of different sea birds, even a spoonbill flew overhead.