Departing Auckland at 7am you will take a pleasant drive south over the Bombay hills into the rich dairy farmland of the Waikato, following the Waikato River to Hamilton, our largest inland city. The Hamilton Gardens were awarded International Garden of The Year 2014. Not technically a botanical garden, but rather 21 themed gardens representing the art, beliefs, lifestyles, and traditions of different civilizations or historical garden styles.

Onto Cambridge, billed as our most English like town, with it’s stately oak trees, village green and historic St Andrew’s Anglican Church 1881. Our lunch stop is taken here.