Hamilton Gardens

If you visit Hamilton, you must go to the gardens, even if you aren't a gardening fan (like me). The gardens run beside the Waikato River and even though we walked around for 2 hours, we didn't see everything. There are the usual Rose, Camellia and Rhododendron Gardens that most big gardens have but what I enjoyed the most were the secret gardens. 

You walk into a central courtyard with five or six paths leading off in all different directions to places such as the Japanese Garden of Contemplation, Chinese Scholar's Garden, Indian Char Bagh Garden, Tudor Garden and Italian Renaissance Garden and about eight others! You never quite know what to expect as you follow along a pathway, go around a few bends and.....surprise!

                            

                            

                            

Of course, there were the more traditional gardens such as the Te Parapara Maori Garden which features an example of a pataka storehouse. Growing inside the fence were kumara plants which are planted into mounds to improve drainage.

                           

Who could resist this face!