It was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment decision late yesterday afternoon that our family would travel down to Hamilton for the day and go pick blueberry picking along the way. Our dad has a few days off work, and we finally have a reliable car, so we thought we'd make the most of it!
We didn't leave home till 10am though. So far we've been in the car for over an hour and have just passed through Huntly and Ngaruawahia.
It's so quiet and small, a far cry from the hustle and bustle of Auckland! There was a McDonalds and even a KFC at Huntly though, which impressed me!
We took a short toilet break at Ngaruawahia before continuing on down to Hamilton. Another roughly 60kms to go, and the weather is perfect at the moment!
We finally got to Hamilton just after midday, but had to travel a bit further to go to the blueberry farm. This was a different one to the farm we went to last year. We decided to check this one out, as we could visit Hamilton on the way back.
I have to admit, the blueberries were much bigger and plentiful at this farm!
We spent almost two hours picking and eating blueberries. There were quite a few others doing the same, mostly Asians!
We spent almost two hours picking and eating blueberries. There were quite a few others doing the same, mostly Asians!
By 2.30pm, we thought it's probably about time we leave. We each took our bucket of blueberries to the tent by the parked cars to get weighed. In total, we had around 9.5kg worth of blueberries. In order to have them at a cheaper rate, we had to purchase at least 10kg. Out we went, back into the farm to pick another 500g worth of blueberries! It probably took us half an hour to do so!
We had to drive back to the main building to pay for the blueberries. We were originally going to get an ice-cream cone as well, but it was going to take 15 minutes and we were already running out of time since we had to get back to Auckland for a singing rehearsal at church by 7pm tonight!
Instead, we just left and headed for the Hamilton Gardens to check out the Japanese gardens that our dad was keen to see.
I have to admit I was impressed with the Hamilton Gardens! Admittedly, we only had enough time to check out one section of the gardens, but what we did get to see was impressive!
Naturally, we went to the section with gardens from different regions of the world, such as the Japanese, Chinese, Indian, English, American and Italian gardens.
I could only remember a Japanese garden existing, but I have to say it was outshone by some of the other gardens, namely the Indian and Italian gardens which were quite impressive courtyards!
It's been a long time since I last came here, probably when I was a little child!
I could only remember a Japanese garden existing, but I have to say it was outshone by some of the other gardens, namely the Indian and Italian gardens which were quite impressive courtyards!
The American garden wasn't much.
It was a modernist garden, so it mainly consisted of a pool with three beach chairs and a painting of Marilyn Monroe beside it.
It was a modernist garden, so it mainly consisted of a pool with three beach chairs and a painting of Marilyn Monroe beside it.
We were soon running out of time and had to rush through the Italian garden before leaving for Auckland.
It was a good day out, even though it wasn't long enough! There was a minor concern on the way back when Aonghas thought he smelt smoke and heard some rattling noises come from the car, resulting in him pulling over alongside the motorway to double check. He couldn't find anything though, so he continued on.
A trip to Hamilton. What a good start to 2013. Hopefully there'll be quite a few more trips out of Auckland this year!
hOW MUCH WERE the blueberries?
ReplyDeleteIt was $8.50/kg if >10kg, or $9.50/kg if >10kg.
ReplyDelete