Blogs from Hamilton, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania

Wednesday 7th March we went to Hamilton to have a look at the gardens there. Okay we like gardening!! They have these gardens that they have set up at great expense.The council consulted with gardeners from around the world to design themed garden collections. They explore the history, context and meaning of gardens through 5 garden collections:Paradise gardens, productive garden, cultivar gardens, landscapgarden collection and fantasy gardens. We really liked the Paradise gardens, which were Chinese, English, Japanese, American modernist, Italian Renaissance (my favourite) and Indian Char Bagh. Enjoy!... read more

Vanuit Tongariro besloten we richting Raglan te rijden. Na een dagje slenteren door het stadje was het de bedoeling dat Jan , surflessen ging volgen. We besloten de dag nadien de surfshops af te lopen en er de goedkoopste uit te kiezen. Helaas strooide de regen wat roet in onze plannen en kwam het surfen er niet van. We stonden wel op een leuke camping (eigenlijk een parking van een wandeling) met zicht op zee. Daar leerden we 2 leuke Duitsers kennen, we deelden ons eten 's avonds en spraken af om de wandeling naar de top van de berg te doen 's morgens vroeg. De Duitse mensen zeiden tegen ons 'we willen vroeg op staan, want het is een lange wandeling. Is 7 uur 's morgens goed?' Wel euh, we hadden niet veel keuze dan ... read more

Joseph and Stacey purchased their first home on Friday 22nd July 2011. It is near the Lakes in Hamilton - a really good location . We picked up Patrick in Auckland on our way down to help them clean their new home and move the larger items of furniture. We managed to clean, pack and move with everyone's help. Here are a few photos............ read more

Friday: March 11, 2011: After a great evening with Clive and Margaret, I somehow fell into bed and slept like the dead. Had a tornado gone overhead, I would not have been aware of it…..at all!! Sooooo tired, sooooo tired. However, this morning….I did feel refreshed after a good hot shower……and some clean clothes. The 1st Lady also slept really well…..until about 5AM….and then she couldn’t sleep any longer……wrong time on the clock for her body, which was awake no matter what that clock said. Clive had the table set……and, we had “ordered” just toast this morning…..and, he had gathered together several different kinds of jellies, syrups, lemon curd, etc., etc……and all four of us just sat there and enjoyed a great hour together over the coffee and tea cups. It was all tooo quickly time ... read more

Okay, so var ska jag borja. Var ett tag sen jag skrev nu. So den senaste tiden har jag bott hemma hos Lucy. Och allt borjade med att jag drog till Auckland och gjorde min tatuering. Jag gick till tatueraren for att se om han ens hade borjat med designen, vilket han till min forvoning hade gjort ockso. Och jag vart helt fortrollad i hur snygg den var och hur han hade tenkt ut den. Speciellt eftersom den snurrar runt min arm och in po bicepen (se bilder).. Eftersom folk har frogat so pass mycket kommer her en utforlig beskrivning om vad allting betyder: Tatueringen inneholler Maori patterns och i min tatueringen finns "the fishhook" som i maori betyder, citat: "prosperity, strength, determination and good health, as well as providing safe journeys". I mitten av tatueringen ... read more

The other night Fern voiced some slight discontentment over constantly being the headlining character in my last couple posts so for the sake of appeasing her I’m going to refer to her as “NotFern” for this next one. Tonight we went to my first rugby game! It was Waikato vs. Canterbury and whether or not NotFern intended to, she dressed me in the opposing team’s colors. (Apparently I didn’t pack warm enough attire for cold nighttime stadium seats.) It turned out just fine though because the other team’s colors were red and black and our team’s were red, black, and yellow. Not much difference. Before we left for the game NotFern’s flat-mate, Sarah told me all about the tight, short shorts the players would be wearing. Apparently “those blokes are cut as!” (rough translation: “Those dudes ... read more