A Winter Weekend

This weekend, Porter and I went to Hagley Park and explored the grounds. Hagley Park is a massive park (~407 acres) in central Christchurch and has its own golf course, croquet area, and Botanical Garden. We walked about 2.5 miles and didn’t even get close to covering it all. http://resources.ccc.govt.nz/files/cityleisure/parkswalkways/popularparks/hagley_park-popularparks.pdf

I think our favorite part was the Botanic Gardens because of all the ducks and the foliage…even beautiful in the winter time. There was even a playground where Porter got on the swings and didn’t want to leave. There also looks to be a swimming pool for the summer seasons. Even though the park is in the heart of the city, you feel like you are out in the middle of nowhere!

We also went to Willowbank…again. I’m not sure who likes this more, me or Porter? This time, we saw a beautiful pheasant – pronounced fee-sent. A Kea parrot jumped on the handles of Porter’s buggy and stole his strawberry milk. Luckily, we got it back and put it in the rubbish bin (trash can) immediately. And, once again, we were able to see the Kiwi’s in their enclosed environment – they reverse the day and night in their enclosure so that we can view them when they are awake – they are nocturnal.

Porter is getting really good on his feet. He’s not quite walking yet but he can do laps around the coffee table and almost catch me when we play keep away. He also thinks it is quite funny to fake “sneeze” to startle me. He also discovered how yummy apples were as long as mommy takes the first bite; it is quite difficult to get a first bite when you only have bottom teeth!

New Zealand Otters

DONKEY!

 

River at Hagley

NZ Pheasant

Porter was a bit uncomfortable with how close the Clydesdale got!

Muegano -
a series of glasshouse-like frames, sitting on the water in a jumbled collection, creating angles and light reflections

Porter and the ducks...the eels were hard to photograph.