We got up late and had a wonderful breakfast of pancakes layered with banana and bacon, and topped with mascarpone and blueberry compote. Mmmm. A good part of our enjoyment of this trip has been the places we've stayed and the restaurants we've visited.
Today we drove an hour and a half north to Hamilton Gardens, an unusual grouping of 18 unique gardens. It's usually described as a botanical garden, but it doesn't technically qualify as a botanical garden. Instead, it has separate gardens representing the art, beliefs, lifestyles and traditions of different civilisations or historical garden styles. Each garden is set off in its own space.
There were the Italian, Egyptian, English, Surreal, Indian, Modern gardens and more. It's a quiet and relaxing place. We particularly enjoyed the Surreal Garden and the English gardens.
Hours later, we decided to head to Auckland, our final stop, where we will fly back to Phoenix tomorrow. We are staying at a hotel close to the airport to minimize the time to return the car, and avoid traffic. The drive north to Auckland was nasty, and punctuated with times of bumper to bumper traffic due to break downs or accidents. Google routed us around a 20 minute slowdown through some hilly, narrow roads. Kudos to Ray! That was the highlight of the drive back!
Photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/QaS2DMC1HekMgJWv5
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