Rhododendron's in Dunedin's Botanical Garden

They grow Rhododendron very big here.  An 8 cluster flower is not uncommon. These pics were taken across the street from us in the Dunedin Botanic Gardens. This is the 100 year anniversary of Dunedin's Rhododendron Dell. Rhododendron's have a long history here and because of the PH levels, volcanic soils, moderate temperatures and good annual rainfall they grow with great vigor, not just in the garden but everywhere. 

They come in many colors, sizes & shapes but they are all in the Rhododendron Family. 
They bloom for about a month but different varieties bloom at different times.


Camellias and a walk through the park on a misty day, which is quite common here.

Blooming trees and soo! many blossoms.

This is a name on a plaque of a large bush that we found of interest.

This is Knox College (a college at Otago University is a Dormitory) and there are 250 students housed here. Only a few blocks from our flat.

This is the Clock Tower at Otago University and it is an administration building.

This tree is next to the Clock Tower and many other trees are in bloom here as it is now Spring.

The Garden in early Spring.

A view from the Gardens to the west.

We took a drive out to the Otago Peninsula and the first pic shows Dunedin from high up on the peninsula. The other two pics show the view further down toward the ocean. 

These folks have been our dinner guests for the last several weeks on Sundays.  The young lady is from Kenya but is studying at the Otago University.

Glen and his boys are studying with the Missionaries and we give them rides to church.

Dunedin as seen from Signal Hill at night fall.  In person the lights were twinkling.

A view near Christchurch

A memorial to the 185 people who were killed in the Christchurch earthquake 4 years ago.

Looks like Switzerland.

Don't miss the ever present sheep that are grazing on the green winter grass.

Playing "Oh My Heck" with the Petersens and the Cannons

Buying rocks near the beach full of rocks.

A rock hunters beach.  There is no sand on this beach just rocks, rocks, and more rocks.  Most of them smaller than two inches in diameter.

John & Marilyn Dougall who are serving in Auckland Mission came for a visit.

Another Game of Oh My Heck

 

New Pictures and Text added June 8, 2014

Here are some picture of our good friends, the Bachelors- Margaret and Danny who are now studying with the young Elders.    The first picture is eating at our Flat and the second is taken on a walk with Margaret near their home on the Queen's Birthday holiday.   We have eaten with them 2 times and enjoyed many good times together.

We enjoyed taking a day off, from the Archives for the 2nd time and attending a Zone Conference in a small town about 2 hours away called Gore.  The countryside is beautiful and the meeting always inspirational. 

We  have really enjoyed the Elder in the middle of the picture- Toomalati .  He is from American Samoa and will be going home in 2 weeks.   Next Fall he will be playing basketball for Washington State in Tacoma, WA.

Bad picture but had to show you some more sheep.

We often have the Elders and Sister for dinner and usually with an investigator. 

Most of the time our Sisters do not drive.  They ride bikes, take the bus or walk and on occasion ask the Dickey's for a ride.  

In May the senior couple from Invercargill (about 3 hours away on the southern tip of the island) spent the night with us and after church on Sunday they had dinner here and brought a set of Elders with them.  Elder Harding served here as a young missionary many years ago.

New Zealand celebrates the Queens birthday in June so we had a day off from the Archives.  To celebrate we inspected 4 missionary flats and then went for a walk on St Clair Beach.

Looking down on the beach from above.  Notice the houses of Dunedin, built on the hills.

 

Another Saturday we drove to the outskirts of the city for this view of Dunedin. 

There are always sheep to be seen and green pastures even though it is winter here.

Last week we were ask to give a presentation at the Genealogical Society of Dunedin (NZSG).  Their meetings are at the public library and this month there were about 40 people in attendance. 

We used a power point presentation showing a clip from our DC video, slides about Family Search and then some of our Probate records.  It went very well and in 2 months we will do the same thing for another chapter.  Some of the Probate records from NZ are now online and someone told us the next day that they had found a record they were searching for and really enjoyed seeing it online.  

Needless to say, we are very happy to be here and to leave footprints for many years to come. 

The outgoing chairman of our NZSG chapter, a retired Presbyterian minister.