If you are looking for something free to do today, head to the gardens.
Timaru has some beautiful public gardens, and WuHoo Timaru has free resources to help turn a simple walk into a fun little adventure for families, grandparents, visitors, or anyone who feels like exploring...
A great place to start is the Timaru Botanic Gardens Scavenger Hunt. It includes activities and a map to help you look more closely and enjoy parts of the gardens you might normally walk past. You can find it here:
https://www.wuhootimaru.co.nz/timaru-botanic-gardens-scavenger-hunt
If your children love spotting things, try the Tree Tour as well. It helps you hunt for special trees and adds a real sense of discovery to your visit. You can find that here:
https://www.wuhootimaru.co.nz/tree-tour/90-timaru-botanic-gardens-trees
If you would rather enjoy flowers and a slower wander, make it a rose day. The Trevor Griffiths Rose Garden at Caroline Bay is a real treasure, and WuHoo also has a Rose Family Fun Fact Sheet to help you explore more deeply.
Trevor Griffiths Rose Garden:
https://www.wuhootimaru.co.nz/roses/349-trevor-griffiths-rose-garden
Rose Family Fun Fact Sheet:
https://wuhootimaru.co.nz/roses/family-fun-fact-sheet
You can find even more printable resources on the Downloads page, including Botanic Gardens hunt sheets and other free activity ideas:
https://www.wuhootimaru.co.nz/downloads
So if you are wondering what to do today...
Go to the gardens.
Take a hunt sheet.
Look for something new.
Let the children lead a little.
Look closely and see what you can find.
Sometimes the best outings are the simplest and free-to-do ones.
Handy links
Botanic Gardens Scavenger Hunt timaru-botanic-gardens-scavenger-hunt
Tree Tour tree-tour
Trevor Griffiths Rose Garden trevor-griffiths-rose-garden
Rose Family Fun Fact Sheet roses/family-fun-fact-sheet
Downloads downloads
Botanic Gardens Challenge: Make art in the park. Take some paper and crayons to the Timaru Botanic Gardens, find some fallen leaves, trace the outline and draw the veins on or try a leaf rubbing.
Make an acron ring as a work of art, maybe a fairy nest...
Chat to a Cockatoo
Botanic Gardens Challenge: Chat to a Cockatoo. Will the sulphur crested cockatoo watch you with it's beady eyes as you bob up and down? Take a photo and post to our Facebook / Instagram #WuHooTimaru
Botanic Gardens Challenge: Point to pine cones in Pintum.
Botanic Gardens Challenge: Spy pollinators that buzz. Can you tell the difference between a bee and a fly? A bee tucks its wings in when it lands, a fly keeps them stretched out.
Botanic Gardens Challenge: Hide Painted Rocks in the Victorian Sunken Garden. The Queen Victoria Jubilee Fountain amongst the garden beds used to reside in front of the Timaru District Council unti lit was shifted in 1960.
Botanic Gardens Challenge: Find the Metasequoia Dawn Redwood. Thought to be extinct 2 million years ago, the last 100 trees were discovered in China, and seeds made it all the way to little ol' Timaru, where this beautiful tree was established and stands today.
Sizzle a feast use the free BBQ's at the Timaru Botanic Gardens in the Pintum area. Hunt for pine cones, see if you can spy a bird in the bird house.
Enjoy the blooms, and take notice of the new arrivals in the garden.
We love to visit the walled garden arches and see the seasons impact on them at Timaru Botanic Gardens
Botanic Gardens Challenge: Find the chocolate tree. It was planted in 1946 by the Glouster Gates. Not only are the seeds used as a substitute for chocolate, but the seeds formed the basis of the carat weight system still used by Jewelers today!
Botanic Gardens Challenge: Find the Ti Kouka cabbage tree that pre-dates Europeans. Did you know this cabbage tree at the Timaru Botanic Gardens is so old, it could be pre the arrival of Europeans to Timaru!
Botanic Gardens Challenge: Spot the Dutch Elm that's over 150 years old. Yep as old as the Timaru Botanic Gardens - when Timaru become a borough! In 2006, a major snowstorm (largest since 1946) caused significant damage throughout the Gardens. It flattened many native plants and trees, which split or had limbs broken, including a 60 year old Carob Tree, a Cork Oak and several Gum Trees. Trees that can survive the storms and live to a ripe age are really special, and is why I love the gardens Dutch Elm.
Visit the ducks and give them a feed. frozen veges is much better for their tummy's than bread.
Visit the same spots over the year and photograph the changes.
Botanic Gardens Challenge: Find the John Lennon Tree. Have you seen the John Lennon tree at the Timaru Botanic Gardens? It was gifted by Classic The Hits and 98 Port FM Radio in his memory. There are lots of plaques to spy at the Timaru Botanic Gardens that recognise family reunions, dedications to people and special anniversaries. Such as the John Lennon tree in 1980, and planting a tree to celebrate 100 years since the first ascent of Mt Cook in 1994. This is over in the Alpine plants section. Or between the sunken garden and the highway boundary is a Metrosideros ‘Maungapiko’ (a cross between a Pohutakawa and Southern Rata) was planted in 2014, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the land being formally gazetted as a public park. That same year, the Timaru Botanic Gardens was recognised as a Garden of National Significance by the New Zealand Gardens Trust.
Botanic Gardens Challenge: find flowers, thorns and hips in the species rose garden. Did you know that in 2005, the Gardens were awarded the Inaugural Heritage Roses Award, noting that the Timaru Species Rose Border was the only public collection of such roses in New Zealand.
Turn the macro feature on your camera, and explore the shapes of flowers
Explore the trees
