Hello !

Sorry it's been so long, haven't really got any excuse as I have been in the same spot for quite a while now. I've done quite a few things really (but I have now done them all several times and quite exhausted Hamilton...actually im getting excited about moving on in a few weeks).

I will start with Hamilton Gardens, which are beautiful (see photos) I live only a 2 min walk away from them so often go for walks around the grounds. The concept behind the gardens is individually themed gardens such as an American Modern garden, a Maori garden, a Perfume garden and so forth. I took pictures of the boards explaining the thought process behind each garden for you to have a read. I know mam and dad would love it. By far my best garden there is the self-sufficient backyard, which included mulch piles, a bathtub growing algae for clean air, a chicken (or chook) coop, a worm farm and a pretty water feature made of recycled materials. The highlight being the sofa made of concrete with home utilities incorporated into the structure (see photos).

Another place I thought of my family was when I visited the Sculpture Park, just a few miles out of Hamilton city. The Sculpture Park was constructed in an old quarry and was home to artists donated sculptures, which - if you had the money - you could purchase. It was about a miles walk through the quarry and the sculptures were dotted along the path. The best sculpture there, I thought, was a sculpture named 'orb'. It was a metal orb suspended on wire from the top of the walls of the quarry, I spent a while wondering if it was attached to trees or if the wire was drilled into the quarry faces. Unfortunately as it was way above me I couldn't get a good enough picture of it, but it was pretty cool!

The museum here is really interesting, got lots of different exhibits such as a history of Hamilton, a Maori war canoe and art works produced by local artistes. They also have frequent changes in exhibits, the is one called 'I must learn to like myself' by a Kiwi artists whose influences are rugby, religion and murder, and interesting mix. Next door to the museum is the ArtsPost (yes one word) which is currently exhibiting the 'creative world of stitch' exhibit. Now when this came I was very interested to see it and merrily walked in, only to be greeted by a room full of old women gazing in awe at the pieces of art displayed...I did have half a mind to turn around and pretend I was never interested.

Iv visited the famous Waitomo which is famous for its endless glow-worm caves. There are a lot of companies offering various activities such as abseiling into the caves, caving and black water rafting. I opted for a fairly simple tour of the caves that were used by David Attenborough series Planet Earth. I figured if it good enough for David, it's good enough for me (not to mention black water rafting in 8 degree water didn't sound fun to me, regardless if im wearing a wet suit or not !) The tour consisted of two caves, the first we spent walking around looking and learning about glow worms and spent about half an hour of a boat ride..in the dark ! in order for us to see the glow worms clearly. The ceiling of the cave looked like the solar system, it was extremely mesmerising. The second part of the tour was in a different cave where we spent the time looking at natural cave formations.

Lucky for me last weekend the National Pet Expo was in town. IT had very thing from rats to horses and I was kept amused for a good 3 hours. I think I spend at good 20 mins holding the rats at one stand. I have included some amusing looking animals 

Interesting fact for you before I go, the creator of The Rocky Horror Picture show was born in Hamilton, and to commemorate him they have a statue in the centre of a transvestite named Riff Raff. He is also pictured. He decided to move from NZ to England before the creation of Rocky Horror and is now applying for citizenship back here, however the authorities are as yet to let him back into the country!

I hope everyone that side of the world is OK. I miss you all.
xxxxxxxxxxx
P.S. Flick & Pru, there are some animals that I took pictures of especially for you - I think you will appreciate them....