Travelsmartplanet

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

Since the 1880’s, the silver fern has been a symbol of New Zealand. It is the most abundant of all ferns in New Zealand. You could not have a botanical garden without the official symbol of New Zealand so here it is growing in Hamilton Garden. 

Tags: botanical, botanical garden, fern, garden, gardens, growing, Hamilton, Hamilton Gardens, hedge, Mother Nature, New Zealand, nonflowering, official, outdoors, plant, planting, shrub, shrubbery, sights, sightseeing, silver, silver fern, symbol, tour, tourist, travelblogger

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

New Zealand has lots of trees to walk around in, and on top of. If you climb up here you can get a bird’s eye view of the lush landscape. 

Tags: Adventure, bird’s eye view, climb, Coast, earth, earth focus, explore, Kiwi, landscape, lush, Mother Nature, nature trail, nature walk, New Zealand, North Island, perspective, scenery, sights, sightseeing, tour, tourist, travelblogger, Tree Top, Tree Top Walk, trees, treetop, treetops, view, view from the top, views, West Coast, wetlands, wilderness, wilderness trail trail

It almost seems like every turn you take in New Zealand you see another green and lush vista.

Tags: distant view, elevated, green, landscape, lush, mountain, New Zealand, North Island, panorama, panoramic, Passage, perspective, scene, scenery, seascape, sights, sightseeing, tour, tourist, travelblogger, trees, view, view from the top, vista, vista view

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 the Maori tradition, Hangi, was the preparation of food traditionally wrapped in flax leaves and placed on hot stones at the bottom of a deep pit in the ground. It got it’s name as this earth oven was called a hangi. The food is covered with wet cloth and a mound of earth traps the heat from the stones around the food. The meal is left in the ground for 3-4 hours.

Tags: Cambridge, cloth, cook, cover, earth, earth oven, flax, flax leaves, food, ground, ground oven, Hangi, Hangi Meal, heat, hot, hot stone, hot stones, leave, leaves, Maori, Maori Hangi, Maori meal, meal, Mother Nature, mound, New Zealand, oven, pit, preparation, sights, sightseeing, stone, tour, tourist, tradition, traditional, travelblogger, wet, wet cloth