Hamilton

It was an easy hitch to Hamilton. I was stood out on the road for about 2 minutes before I got picked up. I got a lift from a lovely guy who was driving up for a birthday party the next day. He was in no particular rush so dropped me right outside where I was staying (at Brian and Eileen's house, friends of Dad) Eileen was suprised to see me there as where they live is about 10km outside Hamilton. I really enjoyed my time in Hamilton. I went to Raglan for the day with Eileen and her brother Martin, it's a lovely place and a prime surfing spot. The sand on the beaces is volcanic and so it's grey.

I borrowed Brians mountainbike and spent 2 days riding around mountain bike parks in the area. Some really good trails and it was great fun. 

Brian took me to a place called Maungatautari. It's a nature reserve with a predator proof fence, meaning it's exactly how the New Zealand bush would have looked everywhere before Europeans introduced mammals and rodents to the country. Brian volunteers, setting food stations to monitor wether there's been a breach in the reserves security. So we went around collecting the monitoring strips.

Brian also showed me where they have Tuatara, large reptiles that look like something out of Jurrasic Park. They're pretty well camouflaged.

Hamilton has so incredible botanical gardens. I give you one photo as a teaser.