Hamilton part I

After a 5 day vacation up in Hamilton with my bestie, I am back in Palmy for a week of nothingness before uni starts again next week (groan). It was an amazing week, lots and lots of fun and incredibly busy! Five days sounded like plenty but in reality it was not enough. The weather was pretty yuk all week which somewhat limited what we could do (didn't get to the zoo etc) but we still made the most of our stay up there.
I love Hamilton. It has all the positives of a big city (malls, pumping nightlife, heaps of restaurants to choose from, a zoo etc) and it is so central that it's only 45 mins from Rotorua and Tauranga, an hour from Auckland, two hours from Taupo, less than an hour from Raglan (which is bliss in summertime) and close to little known places like Pirongia, Cambridge and Te Awamutu. It was lovely to see the parents again and the drive itself was so much better with a buddy.
Starting today I'm going to do a five part series of my time away, covering each day. I missed blogging, but it was kinda liberating to be away from technology (other than TV) and not logging on to facey all the time.

Day One
Left Hastings around 10:30 and began our journey. Stopped for lunch in Taupo at a place called BodyFuel Cafe which was yummy. Did a bit of browsing of the Taupo shops then continued our journey. Arrived in Hamilton around 3pm when we chilled with the parents, ate dinner and got an early night.

Taupo - snow on the mountains!

The two of us at the cafe in Taupo

Mmmm Mocha

Mmmm scone thingy

Seat made of skis in Taupo

Awesomest card everrr!

Amazing gift shop - spent an hour inside!

Bed and fudge on arrival!

Drive down the main street at night

These are just a few snapshots of the first day. A great start to what would be a superb week. Trip.
xx