Churn and burn.....
Well after our few days in Auckland, we hired a car and made the short trip, by NZ standards, to Hamilton. Hamilton is the fifth biggest city in NZ and is inland.
We were planning on staying with Sean McCormack, a brother of Aoife’s, and his wife Anna and little girl Niamh. Being male I have forgotten Niamh’s age but I think it was 14 months?
Sean, Anna & Niamh live in a place called, wait for it, Whatawhata! It is either Maori or the indigenous population were hard of hearing but I suspect it was the first. In order to get to Whatawhata we had to pass through some small villages. The directions could not have been better and I just thank God we didn’t have to ask for directions, because some of the place names are just unpronounceable. I will give you a short extract from the directions that Sean provided:
“In Ngarvawahia turn right over a railway line for a road marked, Otorahanga/ Te Kowhai and Whatawhata!” All this in the state of Waikato and The King Country.
A mouthful I think you’ll agree. Anyway we found Whatawhata after driving for about an hour and a half. Sean, by the way, being typically Irish had asked that we bring him over some King Crisps.
I must say that our days in Hamilton were by far the most relaxing thus far, I could feel the knots disappearing from my shoulders within a few hours and Sharon and I had our first really good sleep.
We took out the camcorder while we were there and got some really good, if I do say so myself, videos of Niamh and family. Niamh is adorable and not camera shy either, all the tricks came out. Niamh banging drums, Niamh cycling the bike, Niamh striking a pose……a model in the making I think. Here’s a photo of Niamh with Sharon for Aunty Aoife.
Aoife, we hope to burn the videos onto DVD when we figure out how and send copies to you and Sean. By the way I will let Sean explain the heading on this post to you himself!
The first day was spent relaxing at our guests home, drinking some lovely NZ wine and eating fabulous food fresh from the garden. Our first spuds in at least three weeks were “manna” from heaven for a country boy like me.
The second day we got up late and headed into Hamilton Town itself. It is bigger than we first thought and it has a fantastic river running through it called the “Waikato River.” The river has a 12km walkway along both its banks and has steam boats that run up and down. We also came across this Maori statue at one of the entrances. Even though it was the first time we experienced rain since we had arrived it didn’t dampen the spirits.
We proceeded from there to eat in a great place called Scott’s Epicurean. The food and atmosphere was great, after which we headed back to Sean & Anna’s. We then bundled into their car and made our way through “Hobbit land” for Raglan. Raglan is a little beach town about 50 km east of Hamilton and the beach is famous for its surfing. Unfortunately the rain had gotten worse over the short trip and we had to go into “Japanese” tourist mode i.e. out of the car, point camera, click camera and back into the car.
We took a quick look around the town after the “trip” to the beach and purchased some more Pinot Noir, when in Rome, for the next feed of spuds!
We left Hamilton on the Monday and to our hosts credit, the time was all too short and passed all too quickly. Hopefully we will get a chance to catch up again during our stay, either in Wellington or in Hamilton.
We might even baby sit!
Cathal
We were planning on staying with Sean McCormack, a brother of Aoife’s, and his wife Anna and little girl Niamh. Being male I have forgotten Niamh’s age but I think it was 14 months?
Sean, Anna & Niamh live in a place called, wait for it, Whatawhata! It is either Maori or the indigenous population were hard of hearing but I suspect it was the first. In order to get to Whatawhata we had to pass through some small villages. The directions could not have been better and I just thank God we didn’t have to ask for directions, because some of the place names are just unpronounceable. I will give you a short extract from the directions that Sean provided:
“In Ngarvawahia turn right over a railway line for a road marked, Otorahanga/ Te Kowhai and Whatawhata!” All this in the state of Waikato and The King Country.
A mouthful I think you’ll agree. Anyway we found Whatawhata after driving for about an hour and a half. Sean, by the way, being typically Irish had asked that we bring him over some King Crisps.
I must say that our days in Hamilton were by far the most relaxing thus far, I could feel the knots disappearing from my shoulders within a few hours and Sharon and I had our first really good sleep.
We took out the camcorder while we were there and got some really good, if I do say so myself, videos of Niamh and family. Niamh is adorable and not camera shy either, all the tricks came out. Niamh banging drums, Niamh cycling the bike, Niamh striking a pose……a model in the making I think. Here’s a photo of Niamh with Sharon for Aunty Aoife.
Aoife, we hope to burn the videos onto DVD when we figure out how and send copies to you and Sean. By the way I will let Sean explain the heading on this post to you himself!
The first day was spent relaxing at our guests home, drinking some lovely NZ wine and eating fabulous food fresh from the garden. Our first spuds in at least three weeks were “manna” from heaven for a country boy like me.
The second day we got up late and headed into Hamilton Town itself. It is bigger than we first thought and it has a fantastic river running through it called the “Waikato River.” The river has a 12km walkway along both its banks and has steam boats that run up and down. We also came across this Maori statue at one of the entrances. Even though it was the first time we experienced rain since we had arrived it didn’t dampen the spirits.
We proceeded from there to eat in a great place called Scott’s Epicurean. The food and atmosphere was great, after which we headed back to Sean & Anna’s. We then bundled into their car and made our way through “Hobbit land” for Raglan. Raglan is a little beach town about 50 km east of Hamilton and the beach is famous for its surfing. Unfortunately the rain had gotten worse over the short trip and we had to go into “Japanese” tourist mode i.e. out of the car, point camera, click camera and back into the car.
We took a quick look around the town after the “trip” to the beach and purchased some more Pinot Noir, when in Rome, for the next feed of spuds!
We left Hamilton on the Monday and to our hosts credit, the time was all too short and passed all too quickly. Hopefully we will get a chance to catch up again during our stay, either in Wellington or in Hamilton.
We might even baby sit!
Cathal
Labels: Hamilton, New Zealand, North Island
posted by Sharon in Ireland/NZ @ 1:16 PM
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