The Hamilton Gardens – Day 34

Today I’m at the Hamilton Gardens there’s been a window of opportunity where it’s finally stopped raining so finally I’m going to see these gardens. Robin’s already seen it so he’s gone back to Auckland to drop the Jucy van off but yeah, today is Laura’s day. Laura’s day at the gardens.

For the first time in his life, he’s done something nice and said I’m going to take the Jucy Condo back to Auckland, Laura, you stay here and go the Hamilton Gardens. I tried to go three times already but I think he just wants to get rid of me really. Got to be some sort of plan behind his plan.

So anyway, he drops me off at the Hamilton Gardens. I’m heading up to the cafe because it’s still chucking it down with rain – get myself a classic Kiwi coffee which is a flat white, which is just a latte but they call it a flat white here. It’s stopped raining finally – the sun comes out for a split second, and I’m like: “Holy shit!” I’m packing all the stuff as quickly as I can – I need to get outside because who knows when the rain will come back. I’m running outside and I’m following the signs. There are signs everywhere for various parts of the gardens. So I am in some sort of central passage now and have to choose which garden I want to go to first. Productive garden? Oo, boring. Let’s go to fantasy garden. I think I’ve been scammed here, it said it was the fantasy garden and now it says it’s the tropical garden. I’ve heard a lot about these gardens. I’ve heard that they are award-winning. Robin says they are actually some of the best gardens he’s ever seen, so I have high expectations. And so far so good, I go over a nice little blue wooden bridge and it’s just the darnest little thing.

You can really get lost in these gardens. So now I’m in the middle so I got to choose where I want to go. Where shall I go? Where do I go? Maybe I should keep spinning until I stop. Surrealist Garden, that sounds awesome. Oh… It’s not open yet.

Ooo, look at this it’s like Alice in Wonderland. These gardens are taking the piss out of me because I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole right and I can’t find my way out. I think I’m going to go to the herb garden, because I need to do a bit of grocery shopping.

It’s starting to rain again though. So… It’s actually raining a little bit harder now. I have found shelter. But I don’t know how to get out of this garden. It is raining harder than ever and I’m like: “ooohhh noooo, what to do?”

So it’s continuing to rain but I really don’t want to give up on the gardens. I could go back to the cafe and do some more work but I feel like every two seconds the rain stops and there might be a window of opportunity to go and check out some more gardens. If I stand here, I mean, if I sit here maybe the rain will stop and I can go see something.

Good things come to those who wait.

It’s stopped raining – I have a window of opportunity.

I go see the Maori gardens which sort of replicate an old pa site and a pa site is a fortified area that Maori used to live in. I’m in some sort of Maori maze now. There’s all sorts of carvings there some strange bumps in the grass – I don’t really know what they’re meant to be. I progress onto the next stage of the garden journey. I am being drawn toward the Tudor Gardens. It has a nice little castle in the corner, a load of little hedge things going on, some statues with coats of arms and all like glory to England and everything like that. England.

So I’ve made it to the Italian Gardens which are meant to be the best gardens here. Let’s see what all the fuss is about.

And then, I see through the arch, there is a water fountain and Italian splendor awaiting me! Awwwww. I’ve made it to the Italian Garden. It looks nice. I really want to film. But it’s raining. It’s stopped raining. Everything is so symmetrical in the garden. It’s impossible to take a picture that looks crap. I mean, just look at the pictures on the blog and you’ll see that they look amazing out of no talent of my own. I am crap at taking photos but the Italian Gardens do all the work for you.

At the back of the Italian Gardens is like a balcony – you can go out there and hang over the balcony and look at the Mighty Waikato River flowing outside. You’ve got New Zealand on one side, you’ve got Italy on the other side, it’s like [exploding noise]. I am doing some major country hopping today. And the country hopping doesn’t stop because next is the Indian Garden. To be fair, it looks it’s almost the same setup as the Italian Garden except for the water feature is more Indian and the plants are maybe more Indian but it’s still a symmetrical thing with a balcony at the end and a water feature there. Then I walk out and see Japan! There’s a Japanese Contemplation Garden, it’s called. It’s got some decking with a shelter like a little Japanese hut which looks over a pond with blossom trees in there and some ducks on a rock. i don’t know if ducks are a big thing in Japan – I’ve never been to Japan.

Now I need to go back into Hamilton, back to the panel beaters where I am going to be meeting Robin.

Because I had so much coffee at the cafe, I am in serious need of a pee. I am desperate to go to the loo. I really need a wee. I really need a wee. I had too much coffee at the cafe. I’m in a bit of a predicament right now cos I need to pee and I’m lost int he Hamilton Gardens. Maybe I can convince the gardeners that peeing on the plants is a good fertiliser. I need a wee. I need a wee. I need a wee. I don’t want to give up. Yeahhhhh. Even the toilets are like a garden.