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New Zealand: North Island – Animal Art in New Zealand

Saturday, August 22nd, 2020

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

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New Zealand: Otorohanga – Immigrant Cows in New Zealand

Monday, March 16th, 2020

Neither cows, nor any other animals were native to New Zealand. They were all brought in by the British and other explorers when they arrived here.

Tags: animal, British, Cows, explorer, farm animal, immigrant, imported, landscape, livestock, native, New Zealand, Otorohanga, scenery

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New Zealand: Otorohanga – Otorohanga or Harrodsville?

Monday, March 16th, 2020

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

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New Zealand: Otorohanga – Otorohanga New Zealand

Monday, March 16th, 2020

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

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New Zealand: Cambridge – New Zealand’s Favorite Pavlova

Tuesday, March 10th, 2020

When traveling it’s always interesting to look for and try foods which are favorites in that country. This Pavlova was made with layers of whipped cream, wafers – and kiwi of course! Our list in New Zealand included hokey-pokey ice-cream (fabulous vanilla with toffee bits), Kumara fries (like sweet potato) and white bait fritters (fish). Sandra’s all time favorite was the Anzac oatmeal cookies which were developed for troops in the Second World War by the army corps to last awhile while on the move. They are hard to bite but softened up deliciously as you eat them. Anzac = Australia New Zealand Army Corps.

Tags: Anzac, army, army corp, Army Corps, Australia, Australia New Zealand Army Corps., bait, bite, Cambridge, cookie, corp, country, delicious, develop, eat, favorite, fish, food, fries, fritter, hokey-pokey, ice cream, interesting, Kiwi, kumara, layers, list, New Zealand, oatmeal, oatmeal cookie, Pavlova, Second, Second World War, sights, sightseeing, softened, sweet potato, toffee, tour, tourist, traditional, travelblogger, traveling, troops, vanilla, wafer, whipped cream, white, white bait fritter, World War, World War II

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New Zealand: Cambridge – Maori Neighborhood Gathering

Tuesday, March 10th, 2020

Just like all over the world, people of similar backgrounds form social circles to keep their heritage intact. In Cambridge, NZ, we were invited to this Maori gathering to make our own poi balls. The balls are attached to long strings and swung rhythmically, one in each hand. Today, the women dancers perform the Maori poi. Men used it for strength and coordination and they were also used as a weapon during a battle. It is really hard to spin those balls.

Tags: background, ball, battle, Cambridge, coordination, craft, dancer, gathering, heritage, History, intact, Maori, Maori culture, Maori gathering, Maori poi, men, neighborhood, New Zealand, people, perform, poi, poi ball, rhythmically, sights, sightseeing, social, social circle, spin, strength, string, swing, tour, tourist, tradition, traditional, travelblogger, weapon, women, world

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New Zealand: Northern Island- Hamilton Gardens, Northern Island, NZ

Monday, March 9th, 2020

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

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New Zealand: Hamilton Gardens – Hollywood Garden in Hamilton Gardens, NZ

Monday, March 9th, 2020

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

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New Zealand: Hamilton Gardens – All Kinds of Gardens at Hamilton Gardens, NZ

Monday, March 9th, 2020

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

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New Zealand: Hamilton Gardens – Traditional Maori Garden in New Zealand

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020

In the Te Parapara Garden in Hamilton Gardens, NZ, traditional (to Maori) rare kuumara (sweet potato) varieties are planted on puke (mounds) in the summer and then harvested.

Tags: aspect, beliefs, botanic, botanic garden, crops, cultivation, cultural, design, food, garden, gardener, gardens, Hamilton, Hamilton Gardens, harvest, harvested, History, Kūmara plant, kuumara, landscape, Maaori, Maori, Maori Garden, Māori settlement, material, mound, New Zealand, North Island, park, philosophical, plant, planted, practical, practices, productive, puke, purpose, rare, representation, settlement, sights, sightseeing, spiritual, spiritual aspect, spiritual representation, structure, summer, sweet potato, Te Parapara, Te Parapara Garden, tour, tourist, traditional, travelblogger, values, variety, vegetable, Waikato, Waikato river

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Archive for the 'Walking Tour' Category

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.

Neither cows, nor any other animals were native to New Zealand. They were all brought in by the British and other explorers when they arrived here.

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.

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?

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.

In the Te Parapara Garden in Hamilton Gardens, NZ, traditional (to Maori) rare kuumara (sweet potato) varieties are planted on puke (mounds) in the summer and then harvested.