HAGLEY PARK
Hagley Park, legend tells, was created to protect the Anglicans in the four avenues from the Presbyterians in the suburbs! Regardless, the park is a beautiful way to spend an afternoon proving the title "the garden city" correct. The park is home to the Botanic Gardens that grow an amazing variety of plants indigenous and exotic. There is a constant explosion of colour in these gardens and the fragrances come not only from the flowers but from the famous herb garden that presents medical plants. There are some enormous conservatories housing many indoor and tropical plants. The rose gardens are probably the most mundane of the gardens with 250 different types on display! The gardens are very large and it can be a good idea to avail of the carts that tour the gardens or if you are feeling energetic you can join a walking tour with good explanations and stories, especially the Te Puna Ora tours that includes the legends and myths of Europe and New Zealand into the flower presentation. To add to the perfection of the gardens they are bordered by the Avon River and you can boat along it if the mood arises. Still on the grounds of Hagley park is the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, near the Rolleston gate. The gallery was designed by architect Edward Armstrong in oamaru stone that sits perfectly in its green landscape and it was completed in 1932. The collection reflects heavily the move to the original New Zealand style and much of what is on display is by local artists. Nearby is the Canterbury Museum with its unusual exhibition of the exploration of Antarctica as many exhibitions have used New Zealand as their starting point. The first director was Julius Hasst, an archaeologist who gave his name to the Hasst pass and the building is an interesting neo-Gothic structure that dates to 1870. The rest of the displays focus on traditional and national collections of Maori, moa, settlers and native fossils and geology. Beside the museum is Christ's college, the private elite college that emanates old world English from its pores. It is possible to visit the college and there are guided tours to the Big School, the oldest building of 1863 and the Dining Hall designed in 1925 by Cecil Wood. On the south of the park is the Nurses' Memorial Chapel by J.G. Collins to commemorate the death of three local nurses on the troopship Marquette in 1915. It is a delightfully coloured church of green slate roof and terracotta and oamaru stone walls. The interior is completely adorned in different woods and four of the nine stained glass windows are by Veronica Whall compensate the heavy dark effect of the wood.
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