Out and about in Hamilton

There are some peculiarities to New Zealand that we've found interesting.

• Grocery stores similar to Checkers or Pick 'n Pay are open seven days a week until 10pm at night.
• In summer the sun sets at 9.45pm.
• Togs and jandles mean a swimming costume and slip slops.

We are enjoying glamping in our roomy tent. Our morning view from our bed is of forest and birds. 

We have taken some trips in and around Hamilton. We went for breakfast at the Punnet on Boxing day.

Playground included a boat that kids could climb onto and in

Breakfast was rather expensive - R300 for a breakfast of hash brown, bacon and scrambled egg with cappuccino and R50 for a plate of chips that the kids shared.  Most things we expect to pay double for but this was much more than that.

We had a picnic at Claudelands  play park (which was built by the Rotary.)  There is a foofie slide (which they call Flying Fox) as well as other playground equipment that was new to us.

 There were a number of shaded gazebos with picnic tables and benches but there were none vacant and we sat on the grass in the shade.

The park itself is huge and after lunch we went for a walk in Jubilee Park Boardwalk which is like walking through forest.

We've also been to a bike park, which is quite similar to the one down the road from us although the traffic lights didn't seem to be working when we were there.

Hamilton is quite famous for the Hamilton Gardens which is a meandering adventure into different kinds of gardens, eg the Japanese garden,

 A Chinese Garden, incorporating a Bamboo forest,

European gardens,

...and even an ancient Mauri garden.

We ran out of energy before we ran out of gardens.

We have also been to visit friends of the family at a holiday cottage at Raglan Beach. It is right on the water and the kids were able to go canoeing.

 It is close to a small airport and we saw a plane towing a glider higher and higher.

I get a little confused about the difference between suburbs, towns and villages. We have been to so many places nearby. 

Today we had plans to meet my cousin and his wife at the Hamilton Gardens.  We had just driven down the long driveway servicing about five houses, when we noticed we had a flat tyre. We limped back up the driveway again and put on the biscuit spare. We knew we had to have the tyre fixed. It's not a matter of driving to the nearest garage less than a kilometer away as we do in South Africa. Our son recommended a place he uses. We had to go to Te Rapa (suburb? town?) about fifteen minutes away to a specialist tyre centre. We used Google Maps and inadvertently went to the wrong one (the intended one was next door.) They said it would be at least two hours before they could even look at the tyre so I phoned my cousin and they came to fetch us. They took us to a coffee shop on the shores of Lake Karapiro in Cambridge, not far from where they live at the base of Sanctuary Mountain, an ecological island enclosed by a 3,400 hectare mountain with a 47 km pest proof fence.

After cappuccino, chips and chat, they took us back to the tyre place. We needed a new tyre. Originally the price was 90 NZ$ but we were eventually only charged 75 NZ$ (not sure why.) Brian was inspired to give the man we dealt with our last Gideon testament.  Maybe this whole convoluted scenario was God's plan to give His Word to one Kiwi? Please pray that this testament may change a life.