Christmas in the 'Tron

The Friday before Christmas we headed north to Hamilton. It was a magical day for a road trip and we had awesome views of the mountains on the way up.

It was very nice spending a bit of time back home with the folks, as well as catching up with my super-cool nana and various other members of the family. The gardens at mum and dad's place are looking good, especially the new berry enclosure they've had built at the back of the section. The tinsel in the vege garden isn't an attempt at festive cheer, it's meant to help keep the birds away from the tomatoes.

That weekend I had my friend Elvie's hen do in Auckland. Will drove me up and spent the weekend catching up with friends of his up there, so it worked out perfectly. I can't say too much about the hen do ('what goes on tour, stays on tour' and all that...) but we had a fun day on Waiheke Island and a lovely lunch at one of the vineyards. Elvie coped admirably with having to wear a hen costume all day... Then it was back to the Auckland CBD for a night out on the town with Elvie doing her best to get through a substantial list of dares and challenges.

 

Whenever we are back in Hamilton Will and I make sure we spend some time in the Hamilton Gardens, one of my favourite places in the city and where Will proposed  7 years ago (in the English flower garden, so very appropriate).

 The Indian garden is probably my favourite of the themed gardens. It's always a riot of colour.

The Maori garden is one of the newer ones, and the last couple of times it has looked quite stark and bare. It looked better this time now that a lot of the foliage has matured.

They are in the middle of constructing a new Tudor garden and Will was quite taken with this dragon.

We haven't seen peacocks at the gardens before, but came across a couple of them in the 'Kiwi sustainable backyard' garden.

 

We had 'Christmas Day' with the extended family a few days ahead of Christmas as it suited people better. It was a very nice and relaxed day. The real Christmas Day was also relaxed, just Will and I with mum and dad, plus my nana. On Boxing Day Will and I hit the sales at a big shopping centre just out of town and managed to pick up some bargains. We also fitted in a trip to the beach at Raglan which we always try to do when we're up that way. After a very busy year it was nice for Will to wind down and relax a bit. He made al fresco naps bit of a speciality... We drove back to Wellington on the 28th December after a lovely stay. Thanks mum and dad for all the hospitality, it's always nice 'going home' for a bit.