Travelsmartplanet

New Zealand art is influenced by the Maori culture. You can see the influence here by the swirl of this sculpture. Look at the small shapes – they’re all animals.

Tags: animal, Animal Art, art, culture, Indigenous, influence, Maori, Maori culture, New Zealand, New Zealand art, North Island, sculpture, shape, sights, sightseeing, swirl, tour, tourist, travelblogger

This “garden’ in Hamilton Gardens, NZ just did not evoke Hollywood to us. Only the image of Marilyn Monroe gives a hint of what it is. And yes there’s the ubiquitous swimming pool you would find in Hollywood, but who’s in it?

Tags: art, basen, botanical, botanical garden, garden, Hamilton Gardens, hint, Hollywood, Hollywood Garden, image, Marilyn Monroe, New Zealand, pool, scupture, scuptureart, sights, sightseeing, swimming, swimming pool, tour, tourist, travelblogger, ubiquitous

This fun animal pool garden is just one of creative gardens in the Hamilton Gardens. Some of the others are: English Flower Garden, Italian Renaissance Garden, Te Parapara Garden, Japanese Garden of Contemplation, Tudor Garden and Indian Char Bagh Garden.

Tags: animal, botanical, botanical garden, Char Bagh, Contemplation, creative, English, English Flower, flower, garden, Hamilton Gardens, Indian, Indian Char Bagh, Italian, Italian Renaissance, Japanese, Japanese Garden, Japanese Garden of Contemplation, landscape, New Zealand, pool, Renaissance, sculpture, sights, sightseeing, Te Parapara, tour, tourist, travelblogger, Tudor, Tudor Garden, water, water feature

Here is the traditional entrance to the Te Parapara Garden in Hamilton Gardens, NZ. Notice the carved face sticking out his tongue. This is a gesture you would see in Maori dancing and is a method of intimidating invaders.

Tags: carved, carved face, dancing, entrance, face, garden, gardens, gesture, Hamilton, Hamilton Gardens, intimidating, invader, Maori, Maori dancing, method, New Zealand, sights, sightseeing, Te Parapara, tongue, tour, tourist, traditional, travelblogger, Waikato

In the 16^th century the English aristocracy were fascinated by intricate geometric patterns. These Tudor Garden reflects this. There were also knot gardens and some were called fantasy gardens where fantasy plays were held.  Notice the carved heraldic beasts on poles: griffin, dragon, centaur, phoenix, unicorn, satyr and sea serpent. See if you can find “Bottom”  from Shakespeare’s play Midsummer Nights’ Dream.

Tags: 16th, 16th century, aristocracy, beast, bottom, carved, Centaur, century, dragon, English, fantasy, fantasy play, garden, gardens, geometric, griffin, Hamilton, Hamilton Gardens, heraldic, heraldic beast, intricate, knot, knot garden, Midsummer Nights' Dream, New Zealand, pattern, phoenix, play, pole, satyr, sea, sea serpent, serpent, Shakespeare, sights, sightseeing, tour, tourist, travelblogger, Tudor, unicorn

Katherine Mansfield may not be a name you know, but everyone in New Zealand knows her. Her famous short story, “The Garden Party” is depicted in a garden in Hamilton Gardens. She is by the way, often considered one of the founders of modern literature.

Tags: ambiance, art, famous, founder, garden, garden art, gardens, Hamilton, Hamilton Gardens, Katherine Mansfield, literature, modern, modern literature, New Zealand, outdoors, scupture, short story, sights, sightseeing, story, The Garden Party, tour, tourist, travelblogger, Waikato, writer

You never know when you might bump into Alice and Wonderland depictions as you travel around the world. This one was in the Hamilton Gardens in New Zealand. It is truly amazing that this story from centuries ago, has resonated so far and wide. 

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, around the world, art, centuries, century, depiction, garden, garden art, gardens, Hamilton, Hamilton Gardens, New Zealand, North Island, outdoors, public art, resonate, sculpture, sights, sightseeing, statue, story, tea party, theme, tour, tourist, travel, travelblogger, Waikato, world

This depiction of real life and imagined life in Hamilton Gardens was an unpaid labor of love for carvers Derek Kerwood and Meghan Godfrey. For this unbelievably intricate carving, the wood came from a single camphor laurel tree which grew on the nearby Waikato river bank.

Tags: bank, camphor, camphor laurel tree, carver, carving, depiction, Derek Kerwood, Hamilton Gardens, imagined, intricate, labor, labor of love, laurel, laurel tree, life, Meghan Godfrey, mural, New Zealand, North Island, real life, river, river bank, sights, sightseeing, single, tour, tourist, travelblogger, tree, unpaid, unpaid labor, Waikato, Waikato river, Waikato river bank, wood, wooden, Wooden Mural

Our guide threw some sweet corn on the cob into Parekohuru, their largest mineral pool. Mother Nature then took care of the cooking. In 8 minutes, lunch is ready. How smart those Maori people were, to find such a terrific place to live.

Tags: cob, cooking, corn, corn on the cob, culture, earth, Earth's surface, geothermal, geyser, guide, hot, hot spring, hydrogeological, Indigenous, life, lunch, Maori, Maori village, mineral, mineral pool, Mother Nature, Nature, New Zealand, Parekohuru, people, pool, Rotorua, sights, sightseeing, Smart, steam, Steam Ven, sweet corn, thermal, thermal pit, tour, tourist, travelblogger, Ven, village

In Whakerewarewa, New Zealand, the Maori way of life is preserved. The hot thermal mineral baths were an important part of their life. Here these hot thermal pools are designed for easy sitting, entry and exit. You can see the younger generation enjoys them too. This was the young lad who earlier jumped into the freezing water for visitors (see earlier Instagram) so it must have been especially yummy for him to soak in the warm water.

Tags: bath, culture, designed, entry, exit, freezing, freezing water, generation, hot, Instagram, life, lifestyle, Maori, Maori life, Maori village, mineral, Mineral Bath, New Zealand, pool, preserved, sights, sightseeing, sitting, soak, thermal, thermal pool, tour, tourist, travelblogger, village, visitor, warm water, water, Whakerewarewa, younger