Hamilton

Hamilton was just another city but it is NZ’s largest inland city and about the size of Stockport. The Waikato River flows right through it and there is a river walk that runs down both banks of the river. There are also lots of parks and gardens which we visited as there was not much else to do, we walked around Rotaroa Lake which is right in the centre of the city, around 4Km. We visited Hamilton Gardens which was quite interesting, some strange sights though. Two elderly men sailing remote control boats round a lake complete with customized trolleys which looked like little girl’s prams. As we were leaving there was a group of Chinese people stood in a semi-circle round a tape player, they were stood like statues with arms straight and hands clutching an invisible stick, very bizarre.
The England U17 girls playing in the Fifa World Cup were staying at the same hotel and they managed to reach the semi-finals on a penalty shoot out. I told one of them that at least one England team can win a penalty shoot out.
I have learnt to talk Kiwi, which is very easy, all you have to do is replace every ‘e’ for an ‘i’ for example ten would be pronounced tin. However you do have to be careful as I got my neck sunburnt and you would have to say I’ve got a sunburnt nick or if you were going out on the deck you would be going out on the dick. I am sure there would be lots of others lost in translation. Watch this space.