On a road trip of the North Island recently, I had a free morning and decided to have breakfast in…read moreHamilton and visit the gardens. Driving by the entrance, it was clear to see this is a large and worthwhile spot. I highly recommend it if you love flowers, plants, and pleasant strolls outside. Parking is free and plentiful, signs guide you to the entrance. There is a cafe outside too, with lots of seating both inside and out, including restrooms. The main building contains a gift shop with lots of garden and plant supplies, plus the main ticket booth. Prices vary depending where you're from, and they have annual memberships. The gardens are large and divided by both type and historical period and geographic location, which I loved. I mostly visited the various parts clockwise, with Japanese, Chinese, Egyptian, Italian, and New Zealand all being unique. I loved how each has buildings and water features common to the place and time, like a zen rock garden, fountains, and even 60s Americana. At the edge of the Renaissance garden is an outdoor theatre, where I'm told productions of Shakespeare take place. Beyond there are mostly New Zealand centric gardens including what ancient rainforests looked like, and more mountainous areas. There's art throughout like murals and statues. I loved the Maori garden, with traditional carvings and buildings. The Wellington themed Sunday garden was also a highlight, with outdoor tea setup and antique Ford. In all I spent a few hours here and thought it was well worth the entry fee and time. I know I missed springtime by a couple weeks, but there was still plenty to enjoy. It's worth your visit.

We stopped by Hamilton Gardens on our drive back from Hobbiton to Auckland and really enjoyed the…read morevisit. The gardens are no longer free, they charge $20 admission but it's worth visiting. There are a number of different gardens to walk through (e.g., Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Egyptian, etc) with a lot of thought put behind the design to pay homage to the different artistic styles and evolution of gardens. You really get to immerse yourself into different cultures and expression of art in the garden form through time. I loved the gardens so much I ended up buying the book and have been learning more about the history and development of the gardens (fun fact: it used to be a garbage dump). By the far the best gardens I've visited.

Hamilton Lake is a great place for the whole family. The new children's park/playground…read more(established in 2019) is a substantial improvement over the one that was there before. Likewise, the five-km track around Lake Rotoroa is well travelled. A couple of drawbacks about Hamilton Lake are the number of people it attracts at any given time. Too many people usually come here not only at the weekend but also during the weekday. This makes for some uncomfortable interactions between runners and joggers, cyclists and children, jugglers and clowns, etc. Be prepared for a crowd when you go! Check out the café too. They're a hoot!

I usually come here at least once a week when the weather is permitting. The lake has a lovely…read morepath that circles the entire lake, about 5K in length. There are always some runners, some walkers, some moms pushing their babies, dog-walkers and other folks making good use of it. There is a cafe on site, The Verandah, where you can get cold/hot food, coffee and other drinks. It has a good amount of indoor and outdoor seating. The highlight of the lake, for us, is the newly renovated playground. It is just awesome! If only I could still pass for an appropriately-aged child and check this out for myself. Our 3-year-old loves it, particularly the long and winding water features near the playground itself. There is also a toddler playground, nearby, lots of swings and a crazy-long slide. There are also tons of ducks and other birds and we've spent many an hour here losing loaf after loaf of bread to the birds, but enjoying every minute of it. On the weekends, I have seen some sort of sailing classes here, but haven't participated in them myself. This is a great place to come for a walk, a run, a run around or a coffee. There are lots of grassy open spaces for playing whatever sport suits your fancy, and usually you'll find some soccer balls or rugby balls flying around. There are also lots of picnic benches and opportunity to spread out a blanket and have a ground level picnic. Toilets available by the toddler playground. Hard to say anything negative - we keep going back again and again.

This is a long stretch of park winding alongside the Waikato River. You can start the walk at an…read moreentrance off Riverlea Road, and there is another entrance off of Hudson Street. It's similar to other areas of "River Walk" in Hamilton, with a raised boardwalk pathway winding through the park. There are a few areas of expansive green space, where my kids love to just run around. There isn't a playground, but it's a lovely walk. I feel like this walk does not have as nice views of the Waikato as the walk in the CBD, but it is nice nonetheless and you can walk all the way to Hamilton Gardens, if you are so inclined. Most of the walk is stroller-friendly, but there are several places with stairs (these could be tricky if you were walking alone with a stroller and had no help lifting it up and down the steps).

Spent a great day here at the Southern Enclosure with the whole family (hubby, boys 7 and 4). I've…read moreheard a lot about this place, but it's taken us a while to finally make the short trek down from Hamilton. When you arrive, there is a car park and visitor centre. Pay for your tickets at the visitor centre. They have some souvenirs and a small cafe there as well. There are toilets near the visitor centre. They have passes for adults, children, a family pass, yearly pass and various options for guided tours. We opted for the self-guided experience (though, I might have chosen the guide if I went without the kiddos). We also had a coupon from the Entertainment Book (buy one get one adult entry). Mostly, this is a great bush walk and place to see native birds. Bring some binoculars if you have them. The pathways are all gravel or raised wooden walkways. We stuck to the Rata path on this occasion, which had some up and downhill parts, but nothing exceptionally strenuous. We packed about 3 bottles of water and brought our own snacks, which was good since the boys expended a lot of energy running around on the trails. I definitely recommend the viewing tower. It was there that we were visited by a kaka. It just landed on the railing of the tower and walked up and down, checking us out, before flying away. There was another toilet along the way. I just constantly encourage everyone to go when there is one, and we didn't run into any troubles by doing this. I also recommend going to the pond. My boys loved looking at the numerous crayfish scuttling along the ground of the pond - water was so clear you could see right to the bottom.

Waterworld has deteriorated over the years as management has not maintained the high standards that…read moresuch a facility calls for. The swimming pools have emitted toxic levels of chlorine, the facility has poor ventilation, and the swimming pool area is improperly staffed. There have been several widely publicised emergencies that have occurred at the facility because of the poor ventilation and toxicity of the chlorine, as well as improper staffing of the facility. When chlorine increases on the surface of the water of an indoor pool, swimmers are unable to breathe-in good, clean air. Add to this the improper ventilation of the facility and chlorine levels reach a point where it can poison swimmers. Sometimes, it even adversely affects people walking the deck. Because of the bad press the facility received, I imagine that management has begun to address the staffing issues. And there are signs that management has begun to refurbish the facility to ensure better ventilation and to reduce toxic levels of chlorine. Construction on the swimming pools took place in 2020 and early 2021; however, it is unclear whether the ventilation issue has been fully resolved. My one-star rating should not reflect upon the high standard of customer care exercised by workers in the facility. They clearly are putting in their time and effort to their job. Customer beware, and I urge caution when you use the facility.

We went to Waterworld for the first time today. It's been getting hot and humid here in Hamilton…read moreand was daydreaming about getting in a cool and refreshing pool. I'd seen signs around town for it for ages, but never really knew exactly what all was there. I imagined it would be reminiscent of water parks in the US, and probably a little to "big kid" for our 3-year-old. Thankfully, I was wrong :) First, let me just say, the admission price is ridiculously reasonable. A place like this in the U.S. would easily cost $20-30 (or more) for an adult and half as much for children. We got in for the bargain price of $6/adult, our under 5-year-old children were both free. You can bring in your own food and drinks (but can't consume them by the pool). There are male, female and family changing rooms and lockers for rent. You can also purchase swim diapers/nappies at the counter. There is a cafe on-site with the usual sorts of prepared food and beverages. There is also a gym on this site, with a number of cardio machines that are visible from the pool areas below (I didn't check this out in great detail). It appears that they also do swimming lessons, hydrotherapy/rehab and a number of water fitness classes. (I wish I had known about this place when I was pregnant!). Inside, there is a small toddler pool (0.3m deep) and a large family pool (0.8m deep). They have large floating "turtles" and "frogs" for the kids to use like paddle boards (free). In the next room over are 2 more large lap lane pools and finally, there is a large diving pool (with platforms and such). There are lifeguards/staff members patrolling in the indoor pools (and I suspect, the outdoor pool, but we left before the outdoor pool opened). Outside, there is an enormous outdoor pool of varying depth. The shallowest end has a large awning over it for sun cover. There is also a large splash pad area, with various fountains and showers for the kids to run through and a very tiny "water slide," that is appropriate for very small toddlers. There is a playground, several picnic benches and gazebos that you can reserve. There is an expansive amount of grassy area, plenty of room if you want to pitch your sunshade and sprawl out on the grass. There are also a few large (adult) waterslides (hydroslides). We got here fairly early on a Sunday morning, and it was a little busy, but didn't feel crowded. The indoor pools and outdoor splash pad were open, but the big outdoor pool was due to open later in the morning. My 3-year-old mostly enjoyed the splash pad, but after a while, did come inside for a little splash around in the toddler pool and family pool. Afterwards, he changed into his dry clothes and hit the playground for a while. We filled up on some of the snacks we brought and hydrated. Bring your sun hats and sunscreen and plan to stay a while, for this price and amount of activities available, you really can't beat it for a day out with the little ones.

This is such an awesome place! We came here with friends who have been several times and got to try…read moreout one of the rooms where you are trying to find as much money as you can before the time is up. It was fun to mix it up and not just try to get out of the room in an hour, but to try to get more money than previous teams. It was definitely challenging, but not so challenging that it wasn't fun for 4 of us to do decently well. They also have snacks and a great area to play board games if you're not into escape rooms. Lots of great game options available!

Yep, we had fun! Fun clues and great clean rooms. Helpful staff. The puzzles kept with the theme,…read moreplus the room definitely added to my overall enjoyment. Our group was separated in to two rooms. We had to solve puzzles in order for the other group to proceed. Also, there were sound effects that added to the atmosphere. They also have board games and soft drinks. Fun was had by all! Recommended.

I absolutely had to see a black sand beach on my trip to New Zealand and on our way to Hamilton we…read moredrove along the coast to Manu Bay. There are several small seaside towns to visit on the drive and though we didn't stay long to look around, it appeared there were some places for tourist shopping and some dining options. This beach was beautiful and I really wish I had more time to spend here. The black sand is striking yet soft on the footsies. There was a great menagerie of shells and rocks washed up along the beach that were fun to pick through. There are a lot of hills around, and there was a short little hike to a lookout point with a great view. Apparently one of the best surf sites on the North Islands west coast, it did have some surfers out there despite the weather being a bit nasty. There were places to rent gear if you're interested in some water activities. We also passed by several nice looking camping and recreation areas. Great stop and very glad I didn't miss it!!

I drove down to Hamilton for two of the Black Caps games against India earlier on this year and I…read morewas really impressed with the car parking facilities. There were several car parking areas set-up to accommodate for the influx of Black Cap supporters to the stadium. On both occasions, I paid a mere $5 to park my car in an area that was only a stones throw away from Seddon Park. The park itself has a village green sort of feel to it. The treeline along the embankment offers some shade but I prefer the seated stands. Plenty of food and drink options on site. I can't comment on the toilet facilities as I haven't used them - I don't like public toilets! Getting back to the cricket, the Black Caps are due to take on Sri Lanka for a five-day Test match from 18-22 December, then Pakistan for a T20 international on 17 January in 2016 and Australia for an ODI during the Waitangi weekend. Bring it on!