Hamilton

Paihia to Hamilton. In order to get to Hamilton you have to go via Auckland if you use the naked bus.

Staying at Pete and Dayle's, picked us up from the bus stop. Nice room in their house. About 2km from Hamilton city centre. They both work as wine agents... Suites Mike.

Spent 3 days exploring. Hamilton has a fantastic sequence of gardens built on what was a rubbish dump.

New Zealand's longest river, the Waikato, (Maori for running water) runs through the town. Some nice walks along the bank.

There is not a lot of stuff for younger adults to do. It's all very quiet. It feels like a cross between 1950's small American town, and an English rural village. No real buzz.

Yvonne and Mike thought that the average Kiwi would be a slender, super fit specimen of humanity. Not the case at all. Lots and lots of fast food takeaways, and the fact that almost everyone drives, means that obesity is quite a big problem. Pete and his wife, Dayle inform us that local people do not take part in a lot of activities as they are geared for tourists, and expensive for the average Kiwi. Getting to be too expensive for everyone!!

Catch a bus to Waitomo, famous for its limestone caves and glowworms.
Don wetsuits, and rubber rings, plunge in. Down the subterranean river/stream with our way lit by glowworms. Go over a waterfall a couple of metres drop, down a sliding incline of 5 metres, and at the end, joy of joys, a steep climb of 100 steps to the surface. Mike was ecstatic...

Both Pete and Dayle turn out to be a good laugh, and we enjoy our stay with them.

Next stop, Tirau, famous for its corrugated sculptures, (and it's infamous Motel, which we rename 'The Itchy and Scratchy'. More of that later....

Leave you with some photos...

Enjoying a drink, outside Hamilton gardens, in the gardens, glowworm caves, crazy golf            (Yvonne won, crazy girl!)