Hamilton Gardens

I slept well after a long day of activities the previous day, but I was still awake around 7am. That wasn’t too bad though as was just me and the kids up and it gave me time to get showered, have a shave, make a brew and get ready for the day.

The plan for today was to have a quiet day in Hamilton without too much travel. One of the top attractions is Hamilton Gardens, and as the weather forecast for today was another sunny day we decided to head there first before it got too hot outside.

Hamilton Gardens is built on former waste land, just over the other side of the Waikato River from where we’re staying. The gardens are very varied and themed based on international styles of garden, plus some unique styles such as the surrealist garden.

It’s very pleasant walking around the gardens. There’s plenty of shade, lots of colour, and fragrances and it’s a haven for butterflies and bees.

As well as the plants, flowers and trees there are lots of architectual styles of building, fountains, arches and bridges. It was pretty busy, but the flow of the gardens meant that it never felt too crowded.

There isn’t a lot for kids to do, but they did amuse themselves with a fountain and sprinkler, which helped cool them down as the day got warmer. And of course, there are refreshments available and the shout of “icecream” had them running to get a cold snack.

The highlight of the gardens for me was probably the Egyptian garden. This walled garden with a central lake was a very traquil spot to sit and contemplate (unless there is a group of people dancing to “Walk like an Egyptian!”).

After a good few hours in the gardens we decided to head back to our temporary home as we needed to sort out food and provisions for the rest of the week. We wound our way back through the gardens towards the carpark. As the group got split up we picked up the kids at the bus stop, and as they hailed the van down at a bus stop, the nickname “the poppa hopper” was coined!

Ems and I took a trip with Dad and Jo to the local New World to stock up. We had decided on a BBQ, so we got some bits to eat, plus other essentials such as sunscreen, chocolate, coffee, and beer.

When we got back we had a few hours to unwind and sort things out. I made a bulk load of simple pasta salad (using fresh basil from Jo’s garden) to go with the BBQ food and to use for our lunch.

We took a walk round to Dad and Jo’s for tea and sat outside in their covered seating area. We had a lovely night of conversation, played some silly games, and ate some lovely BBQ food.

As we were wrapping up for the evening, Jo decided to check with her sister if we could take a look at the festival site for the upcoming Nomad Festival. As the sun was starting to go down, it would be a good opportunity to check out the site to see where lights should be put up.

So, Dad drove us out to Jenny’s Farm (about 25 minutes away) and we got to have our first look at where we would be spending Saturday evening. The site is a secluded field set on a gently sloping hill, facing towards a small wooded area. At this stage, there wasn’t much to it, but with Jo’s vision (and a lot of hard work from the rest of the team) this area would become a proper mini festival…

I have to admit, I was a bit concerned after this first visit, as one of the things I noticed was that I was getting buzzed by lots of flying insects in the grass area where we would be camping. Little did I know how much these bugs would like to snack on our freshly imported English blood!

It might not have been as busy a day as Monday, but I think all the fresh air and walking in the sunshine (plus the fact we’re probably all still a bit jet lagged) meant that by the time we got back home we all went straight to bed at 21:00.