Travelsmartplanet

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: discovernewzealand, iamtb, newzealand, NZ, nzmustdo, travelislife, travelnewzealand, traveltheglobe, welivetotravel

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

Get your phone’s ready to snap pix of the silly corrugated iron sculptures all over this town. Here’s a cute story: In 1986, Otorohanga briefly changed its name to “Harrodsville”. This was to protest the threat of a lawsuit against restaurateur, Henry Harrod of Palmerston North. Mohamed Al Fayed (yes that one – Diana’s boyfriend’s father), was the owner of Harrod’s department store in London and wanted him to change the name of his restaurant.
As a show of solidarity for Henry Harrod, the District Council suggested that every business in Otorohanga change its name to “Harrods”. The town’s name was even temporarily changed to Harrodsville. After being mocked in the British newspapers, Al Fayed dropped the legal action and Harrodsville and its shops reverted to their former names.

Tags: action, Al Fayed, British, business, corrugated, council, department store, district, District Council, Harrod, Harrod's, Harrod's department store, Harrodsville, Henry Harrod, iron, iron sculpture, lawsuit, legal, legal action, London, mocked, Mohamed Al Fayed, mural, name change, New Zealand, newspaper, Otorohanga, owner, Palmerston North, protest, Restaurant, restaurateur, sculpture, shops, solidarity, store, street art, street mural, threat, town

You cannot pass thru Otorohanga, NZ without stopping for a photo op of their fun corrugated iron sculptures which cover the town. They’re on buildings, on lampposts and sitting as giant sculptures. There’s main street murals too. Here’s a building entirely designed as a wolf.

Tags: art, artist, building, corrugated, design, designed, facade, Hamilton, iron, lamppost, main, main street, mural, New Zealand, North Island, Otorohanga, photo op, sculpture, street, street art, street mural, town, Waikato, Wolf

Invoking the floral colours of an intricate Indian rug, the Indian Char Bagh Garden at Hamilton Gardens definitely has the feel of India. A bagh is an enclosed 4-part garden 8 -18th century Muslim world Asia to north Africa to Spain, paradise gardens universal garden became a distinctive art form in 16 & 17th century under mughal Rulers and then Hindu aristocracy poetic secret pleasure gardens feel breezes, hear water gurgling perfume of flowers real living carpet.

Tags: 16th century, 17th-century, 18th-century, Africa, aristocracy, art, art form, Asia, bagh, botanic garden, botanical, breeze, carpet, century, Char Bagh, Char Bagh Garden, colour, distinctive, Emperor, enclosed, floral, flowers, form, garden, gardens, gurgling, Hamilton, Hamilton Gardens, Hindu, Indian, Indian rug, intricate, living, mughal, Muslim, New Zealand, North, North Africa, Northern Island, Paradise, paradise gardens, perfume, pleasure, poetic, rug, Ruler, secret, secret pleasure, sights, sightseeing, Spain, tour, tourist, travelblogger, universal, water, world

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

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