Day 10 .. November 15, 2007

Today we started out the day visiting Eyris Pearls for an exclusive talk on these extraordinarily beautiful New Zealand blue pearls. We then went for an inner city tour by bus and then traveled to the Sign of the Takahe, a historic building providing spectacular view over the city, Canterbury Plains and to the Southern Alps. We then went to the Botanic Gardens where we broke for lunch. That afternoon, Jo took us on a walking tour of the Botanic Gardens. Later in the afternoon we had a Discovery Series lecture to learn about early settlement of Canterbury as told by an appropriately attired story teller. We were then picked up by our hosts at the hotel for an overnight stay as guests of these hosts in their own homes. Catherine and George, other members of the group also joined us. Our hosts were Michael and Dorothy who were most gracious. They prepared dinner and breakfast for us before returning us to the hotel the next day, the 16th. We learned a lot about the women's Netball tournaments which were being played as well as a bit about Rugby which Michael played on occasions.