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.

The Hamilton Gardens was our stopover on our way back to the AKL airport from Rotorua. It was our…read morelast bit of sightseeing before flying over to Australia. Parking was free but did take awhile to find an open spot considering it was a weekday. At the garden entrance we found out that admission was still free for anyone showing up instead of just for local Hamilton residents. That was a nice savings of $20NZD pp but not sure how much longer that exception will last. There were 17 different gardens to explore, all different and a joy to wander through. Our top favorites were the following: Mansfield Gardens - According to the signage, the garden may have been influenced by a novel written by Katherine Mansfield. It included a home, grass tennis court, outdoor piano and more. Chinese Scholar's Garden with the pathways lined with towering bamboo. Italian Renaissance Garden with its villa facade, fruit trees and statues. Te Parapara Garden for inclusion of Maori culture and traditions. We spent almost 2 hours here and we all agreed this was a must see when in Hamilton.

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.

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!

A nice collection of tree species, with a global presentation from redwoods to China…read more Paths are mostly gravel, so not great for strollers. Picnic tables and serene beauty. Lots of chickens and roosters to entertain the little ones