All things kiwi ….
Our day started with much better weather in the forecast and after a tasty breakfast in the hotel we packed up the car and started on our first major driving day. Heading south from Auckland, our first stop was the city of Hamilton and the Hamilton Gardens. The gardens are not a “botanical garden” in technical terms but it features separate gardens representing various traditions, lifestyles and historical styles – like Japanese, Indian, Modernist and Italian Renaissance. First developed in the 1960’s from a waste tip it is still being expanded. It is the biggest attraction in the Waikato region with over a million visitors annually.
The driving from Auckland to Hamilton – and really for most of the day – was very rural countryside, mainly cattle farms and hardly any sheep at this point ! The roads are very good with Highway 1 between the two cities basically dual carriageway all the way.
The weather mainly held out whilst we wandered around for some time however as we left we had quite a downpour of rain. Next stop was further south to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves. Maori lived in and near the caves area and the glowworm cave was found in the late 1800’s. The caves themselves are the familiar limestone caves with stalagmites and stalactites however the glowworms add another dimension to them and they are endemic to New Zealand. No photos or video allowed but an interesting experience.
Heading back north west, we stopped in the town of Otorohanga which holds itself out to be the “kiwiana” capital. Plenty of tourist bling as you would expect and there is an arcade – the “Ed” Hilary Arcade (as in the Mt Everest Sir Edmond !) which has displays of all things kiwi. And for anyone needing more “plain-speak” for the local amenities, the toilets have special signage.
From here we continued on to Cambridge, our stop for the night. By this stage the rain had moved in and was fairly persistent all the way although it was starting to clear as we arrived about 4pm. We are staying in Hidden Lakes Hotel – in a rather new development near Hidden Lake, of course.
Adrienne had found another brew pub nearby – Good Union – which is owned by the Good George Brewing Co. This pub is in an old converted church ! We found “Trivia Night” again which had one area completely booked out but we managed to get a table in the main part of the church pub. So far these pubs have produced some pretty good food – tonight we had a chicken dish and a pasta which were exceptional. And I can say the beer was pretty good also !
As we left, the trivia teams were rolling in so I suspect there was to be some serious quizzing going down ! We strolled back to the hotel to get blogging ! Anyway, despite the weather being a bit up and down, we managed to see and do quite a lot. Tomorrow we are off to the Shire !