Rotorua Road Trip: Part I

Ayo my dearies!

As you can see, I am back with another post! Yayyyyy. LOL. 

Anyway, well, its already been a month (?) since my road trip down to Rotorua, and again, I am sure some of you have already seen the pictures on Facebook but AGAIN,  here's a little insight to the trip! So, I promise this post won't be as lengthy as the last one and I'll break it into parts so yea! 

Without further a due, here is part one!

So, to be honest, we were quite spontaneous with this idea of going on a road trip down to Rotorua. Literally, we almost planned it in like a day or two and next thing y'know, we're off! But it was fun and a very memorable time. Especially for me, I guess, cause I've always loved road trips and the people you're going on a road trip with makes a huge difference too y'know. And well, the group that I was traveling with, I couldn't love them less. I do consider them family. :)

6 of us went altogether. Jonathan, Ian, Joanna, Kotomi, Max and me! 

The day started off REALLY early, like no kidding. I think Ian left his place at like 6am in the morning and went to pick up Kotomi, Joanna, me, Max and lastly Jonathan. By the time we left for Rotorua, I think it was around 8am. We stopped over and had a simple and quick breakfast, and well, no surprises there, the guys pulled a "prank" on me while I left for the toilet and came back to see the car and people gone. 

Luckily enough, I didn't panic. Well, maybe a little but I didn't show it and just walked to the gas station which was just right next to the café, and found them there, "hiding". So all was good. Phew~ 

 

And that's me trying to look relaxed while inside I was starting to freak out. LOL. Good job guys. 

So after breakfast we headed off for Hamilton! The weather was amazing despite the weather forecast said it was gonna be rainy and stuffs. All in all, it was a beautiful day. :)

Accompanied with beautiful music. 

And breathtaking sceneries~ 

Btw, kudos to Jonathan for most pictures and editing. :)

After about like 2 hours ish, we arrived Hamilton and went to the Hamilton Gardens. Probably not the BEST time to go to a garden since it was Autumn, but then it was still beautiful since the flowers were still blooming. I'll let the pictures do the talking here. 

Started off with a group photo, excluding Jonathan, sadly. 

And towards the entrance to the different gardens! There are about 5-6 gardens, if I'm not mistaken. Italian Renaissance (which is my favorite), the Japanese garden, Chinese garden, England garden, American garden and the Indian garden. Unless I missed some out, not quite sure. 

I was trying to smile but at the same time VERY worried about the bees that were hovering around the flowers. It wasn't just one like there were bees everywhere. It was scary but well, I really liked this picture tho. So I guess it paid off. Hehehehe~ 

The first garden that we went to was the Italian Renaissance garden and this is the entrance to it :). I don't even have the words to describe what I felt then. Serenity? Yeah, perhaps that would be the best word to describe it. 

This was like the roof of the garden. Not sure if its because its Autumn thats why the leaves turned orange/brown, but looking up and just seeing this amazing and beautiful scene really does make you realize how amazing our Creator is. :)

And this is the garden itself :). We decided to like scattered around the garden and take a picture, which again, excluding Jonathan, sadly. 

So after the Italian one, we went to the Chinese and Japanese garden and lastly the Indian garden. Didn't go for the English nor American one since we're kinda rushing towards Mata-Mata (Hobbiton) and the guys were like "We see those gardens every day so let's just skip them". LOL. 

Max being told to posed in the Japanese garden. We were kinda joking like Kotomi and Max should call their parents and show them the picture of them in the Japanese and Chinese garden, saying that they're back home. I assure you, the joke sounds better when its being said. Ok, yeah, I should stop trying to be funny. 

Max trying to explain what the Chinese word is to Ian, I assume. 

The Chinese garden. :) 

And lastly the Indian garden \o/

Leader of the pack. I KID I KID. 

And finally leaving Hamilton Gardens and off to Mata-Mata!!

Woohoo~ so here's the end to Part I, and gosh, I hope it didn't turn out to be too lengthy. Hope you guys enjoyed it tho, cause it sure did bring back a whole lot of memory to me :)

Yours truly,

Nathalie.