Hamilton in a Heartbeat

Make the most of The Tron in 48 hours. Easily one of the country’s most underrated cities, don’t knock it ‘til you try it.

SATURDAY

Morning

Punch ‘Lovegrove Lane’ into your maps’ app and follow Google’s lead to one of Hamilton’s nicest laneways. Lovegrove Lane is hidden down a sneaky side street, so you’ll likely get directed to Grey Street. Look for Subway; Lovegrove is the nearby alleyway with pretty mural graffiti.

Past the florists and yoga studios sits GG’s Café, a beautifully ramshackled coffee spot, adorned with bric-a-brac. Sit at a vintage schoolboy desk and eat the best savoury scone in the city.

High tea at Zealong Tea Estate © Zealong Tea Estate

Afterward, take a stroll down Grey Street. Saturday hosts pavement plant sellers and some serious treasure can be found in thrift stores and Recycle Boutique. A second coffee enjoyed in the park watching cricketers bowl on the grass isn’t a bad shout either.

Mid Morning

Time for Hamilton Gardens. Like most of the city’s premier sights, entry is free. We suspect most visitors are so impressed, they drop a few notes at the gift shop or flush the donation box, keeping the gardens shipshape and free of charge.

Scrap any preconceived ideas you have about botanic gardens because this venue dances to its own tune. More amusement park than manicured rose bushes, you enter a labyrinth of themed gardens and curious doorways; courtyards and castles; tea parties and tricks of the eye.

Hamilton Gardens © Camilla Rutherford

From globally-inspired gardens mimicking India, Italy, England, to vintage Ford cars and blimps intent on taking off, you won’t want to leave, let alone return to your own mediocre backyard. The latest pocket of horticultural magic features giant-sized doors, spades and wheelbarrows. And wait, is that something moving in the trees? You’ll have to wait and see...

Lunch

Appetites now rife, whizz across the city to the Jukebox Diner. Hamilton is relatively large but mercifully compact, so such dashes are achievable. The Jukebox is part of the Classics Museum, an emporium of retro classic cars and vintage petrol pumps. The diner is fittingly 1950s inspired, with red vinyl booths and Elvis on the airwaves. Tuck into burgers with the quintessential thick shake – served in a tall glass and topped with a cherry no less.

Entry to the museum is via the diner and costs $20pp. Simply pay at the counter and push through the double doors into a kingdom of kitsch and Cadillacs.

For a budget-friendly overnight stay, those in campervans can park up on the museum’s parking lot. For $15 a night, it’s not the Ritz Carlton, but you can’t beat the price.

Late Afternoon

Mosey down to The Riverbank Lane, an enclosed hub of small shops and hospitality, including Browsers, a handsome secondhand bookshop packed to its 18- foot rafters with literature of every ilk. Further down, Mr Pickles is a funky modern bar with a terrace overlooking the Waitako River, a broad and ever-present vein of water that runs through the heart of Hamilton.

Ice cream © Ian Dooley

Grab a drink from Mr Pickles and then depart via Duck Island, the city-born ice creamery with a cult following. Choose your unique scoop (white chocolate miso is suitably obscure) and then branch left out of Riverbank Lane. A small plaza falls away into a leafy stairwell and river-fronting pathway; the perfect place to stroll with your ice cream.

A short, four-minute saunter leads to the doors of Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato. Entry is free for something that, once again, overdelivers. Home to 13 galleries, more than 25 exhibitions and a 200-year-old waka taua (war canoe), expect to lose a few hours of your life in here.

Hamilton Museum staircase © AATP

Evening

All that learning makes for a hungry stomach...

Making the most of Waikato produce, Paddock to Plate is an upmarket restaurant just two minutes on foot from Waikato Museum. Specialising in fresh, seasonal ingredients, sourced from pastures nipping at Hamilton’s perimeters, you’ll know exactly where your meat is farmed, veggies are picked and the cheese is churned.

SUNDAY

Morning

With humble 2006 beginnings, Hamilton Farmers’ Market has grown into a 60-store extravaganza and is the ideal way to kick-start your Sunday. Springing up in a rainproof barn on Brooklyn Road every weekend between 8am and noon, you can taste every flavour from Waikato locally grown produce to coffee sold in reusable mugs to return once you’ve drained the cup. There’s a large free carpark and EFTPOS is available.

© Hamilton Farmers’ Market

Late Morning

From the markets, it’s a quick 10-minute drive to Zealong Tea Estate. Gracing the suburb of Gordonton and spread over 40 hectares, much of which is tea fields, take part in ancient tea rituals, award-winning tea tastings and a plantation tour. A decadent High Tea, should your stomach be dictating the agenda, is served from 10am.

Tea specimens, Zealong Tea Estate © Zealong Tea Estate

On to some furry fun. Cornerstone Alpacas is five minutes north of Zealong Tea Estate and home to scores of adorable alpacas.

The alpaca tour starts with a sit-down introduction with video presentation and an alpaca shaped cookie to dunk in your complimentary hot brew. Then it’s outside to meet a range of prancing alpacas, from signature creamy white, to grey, black, long-haired, infant and even a trophy winner (except he’s a little big-headed these days and doesn’t waste his precious time humouring humans). Food pellets are provided so expect an ambush – alpacas are greedy.

Alpaca selfie, Cornerstone Alpacas © Cornerstone Alpacas

Once you’ve taken your fair share of alpaca selfies and the feisty ones have snouted their way through your bag of snacks, the farm café, Cornerstone Kitchen, is on-hand to serve hot coffee and burgers.

After a good munch yourself, it’s time to wrap things up and hit the road.

Zealong Tea Estate © Hamilton Waikato Tourism

...PSST!

Balloons Over Waikato is a week-long hot-air balloon bonanza in the skies above Hamilton, culminating in a balloon ‘dance off’ held at night, with food stalls, fair rides and fireworks. Held every March, events are free.