Monday, Feb. 27 (week / day ) Hamilton, NZ

Temple View, NZ

We leisurely got up & packed up our things at Sebastien's place, left soon after noon & made our way south from Auckland to Hamilton. Our fist stop was the Temple & Visitor Center. We had peanut butter & jelly sandwiches out of the back of the van & got a short tour from the nice lady.

minivan nourishment

Hamilton Gardens

 The kids may have moaned a bit when we mentioned visiting some gardens, but this place was quite impressive. The ice cream treats at the café helped start things off as we spent about an hour meandering through the dozens of garden courts, telling the history of gardening all around the world.

Romeo & Juliet

Davison Dairy Farm

Background story: back in January before we left, Pam, a nurse that Paul works with, gave us the name of Sheryl Baker to contact. She is from NZ but lives in Ontario, OR. Her sister is Kaye who lives with her husband Michael Davison on a dairy farm about a 30 minutes south of Hamilton, NZ. So, after talking to Sheryl once & several text messages back & forth with Kaye, we arrive on the farm in NZ with the warmest welcome from Michael & Kaye! What a great family. They embody the kindness of true Kiwis! We love meeting people & getting to know about their lives & culture. Thanks so much Pam, Sheryl, Michael & Kaye! Their hospitality was top notch including the BBQ, best food we have had in a long time. Cannon was in heaven as they have a whole drawer of Legos & he spent a couple hours playing as we visited after dinner. Oh, for dessert: lamingtons (coconut-coated chocolate or strawberry covered cake squares) & Hokey Pokey ice cream (sweet cream with toffee bits) which was an instant favorite.

our best dinner yet on the trip by far!

Kaye serving the garlic bread, yum!

Cannon with his Lego creations