September Showers Bring October Flowers

Sunday

Ro's first time sleeping over at someone else's house (other than a grandparent) went uneventfully. A bit finicky when it came to breakfast, he decided he didn't want cow's milk on his Milo cereal, so he came up to our place to eat. When Sherry informed him we had the very same cow's milk that Craig did (which Ro had been eating on his cereal for months), he then decided to just eat his cereal dry. Kids...what are ya gonna do? Sherry used to buy him soy milk in the States, but it's just too expensive here.

The forecast called for a let-up in the rainy weather today, so we packed up the car and made for Hamilton under beautiful partly cloudy skies in the Bay. Our hearts sank a little as we crossed the Kaimais and saw a seemingly endless stretch of dark clouds over the Waikato region. Sherry has taken to sitting in the backseat when we're going to be on curvy mountain roads so Ro can sit up front in an attempt to avoid him getting carsick. The tradeoff is that now SHE gets carsick. She claims its Mark's driving, which flings her from side to side in the switchbacks, but Mark claims he is well within the speed limit and suspects she exaggerates her body movements to make a point...lol. Ro slept almost the entire way, so he was ready to go when reached our destination: the Hamilton Gardens.

http://www.hamiltongardens.co.nz/

Thankfully, the sun had finally shown itself as we reached Hamilton. Unfortunately, there was no parking in the main carpark due to the popularity of the orchid show this weekend, so we had to hoof it a little from a satellite lot. Our first order of business was getting some food into Ro, so we had our picnic lunch beside the picturesque Turtle Lake, enjoying pitas with salami, cheese, and hummus. Ro enjoyed giving the pita scraps to the ducks. We ended up making three trips back to the car. While Ro and Sherry walked around the lake (and visited the loo), Mark took our lunch cooler back and retrieved Sherry's glasses case. Shortly thereafter, Sherry went back to drop off her rain jacket (it was decidedly warm and sunny by this point) and switch from her jandals (i.e. flip-flops) to hiking boots. Before the afternoon was out, though, the sockless boots were blistering her feet, so Mark took them back and retrieved her slightly less uncomfortable jandals.

"Hi-ya!"

Ro across Turtle Lake

In the Jardin Hispanico

Beside the huge Rhododendron Lawn

The Hamilton Gardens are a hidden gem, and probably don't get as much notice as they should in the tour books, likely because Hamilton is sort of the Rodney Dangerfield of New Zealand cities. Kiwis joke that their culture is in danger of being wiped out by rising sea levels, as their only two sizable inland cities are Hamilton and Palmerston North. Although only the Italian Renaissance Garden and Indian Char Bagh Garden were what we'd call truly eye-popping, the gardens as a whole were greater than the sum of their parts. The sheer variety of well-done themes in such close proximity ensured that you never got bored.

The Indian garden has a "Persian carpet" of flowers

Indian Char Bagh Garden

It took us four hours to see most of the gardens, including an inadvertent stroll along the banks of the Waikato River, and a couple of stops at two small playgrounds. Ro didn't let us linger too long in any one spot, although we would certainly have liked to. The rose garden and English Flower Garden weren't yet in bloom, but the rest of the gardens were gorgeous.

The Waikato River is a lot more placid here than at Huka Falls

"Weeeeeee!"

"Am I the same size as the fish?"

At the koi pond in the Japanese garden

Entrance to the Chinese Scholars Garden

Bridge over tranquil water

Ro's favorite aspects of the gardens had nothing to do with flowers. The benign-looking spinning table at one of the playgrounds lets you pick up more G's than should be legally allowed. Sherry nearly flew off the thing, and thus, had to return the favor to Mark. The dragon turtle statue in the Chinese Scholars Garden was a favorite perch, overlooking the river. The grass garden with about twenty different grasses meticulously laid out next to each other made for a great running surface. And there were nice expansive lawns everywhere to play tiggy (i.e. tag), but best of all was the ice cream halfway through our visit, overlooking the lake.

"Ro, I think mommy's gonna hurl!"

Ro actually got some of it in his mouth

Dragon turtle power!

Overlooking the Italian Renaissance Garden

In the unfinished Maori Te Parapara Garden

Rigorously testing the grass samples

Mark's favorite spots were the aforementioned Italian and Indian gardens, as well as the most unexpected surprise of the day, a huge mural of Marilyn Monroe in the American Modernist Garden. Sherry also loved the Perfume Garden, and budding chef that she is, the Kitchen and Herb Gardens. Alas, the Victorian Greenhouses were closed by the time we tried to see them as we were on our way out. We didn't even get a chance to see the Landscape Garden Collection...maybe next time.

Ro takes an unauthorized dip while Mark hangs with "the other woman" (Sherry's term)

Fortunately the Perfume Garden didn't set off Sherry's allergies

Petal shower

More rhododendrons in one place than we've ever seen

Although there was still plenty of daylight left (Daylight Saving Time started last night), we didn't fancy a drive home with a hungry Ronan, so we went into Hamilton's City Centre for dinner. Our Entertainment Book led us to Indian Aroma. Indian food is one of Sherry's favorites; Mark usually takes a pass on it, but even he agreed this food was delicious. The placemats even had a picture of the Char Bagh Gardens we'd just visited. Apparently this place caters functions there all the time. Just as Mark judges cafes by their Eggs Benedict, Sherry judges Indian restaurants by their saag paneer, and this stuff was excellent. Mark enjoyed his lamb rogan josh, we all liked the cheese naan, and the Gulab Jamun for dessert was perfect, although Ro favored his brownie a la mode.

"Mmmm...good! Can we have dessert now?"

Ro slept again on the way home, missing Barnaby's phone call to say goodbye (he's leaving on holiday tomorrow), but Sherry promised to pass on the message. We settled in for the evening, watching The Incredible Hulk on Sky TV, relaxing after a long day before Mark starts a busy work week and Ro starts swimming lessons.