My decision to pursue a Master of Arts degree gave me the opportunity to spend the last almost 3 years in Hamilton, New Zealand. Born and raised in Singapore I tend towards thinking of Singapore as the most beautiful city in the world, and a fairer survey by Flight Network, which asked over a thousand travel writers, bloggers and agencies what they thought were the best beauty spots on the globe, confirmed my belief by ranking Singapore the 11th most gorgeous city out of the 50 cities that made the 2019 list. No city in New Zealand made the list, but having been born in an Eden like Singapore I do recognise charming sights when I see them, and Hamilton had some.
Photo: Richard Philip
A morning walk in the beginning of winter at the Memorial Park in Hamilton City, Waikato, New Zealand.
It was the warmest winter ever for New Zealand this year (2021) with the average temperature being 9.8C primarily due to the La Niña effect, which is the irregular recurrence of the upwelling of unusually cold water to the ocean surface along the western coast of South America, which in turn disrupts typical regional and global weather patterns in a manner opposite to that of the El Niño effect. Add climate change to the mix and you’ll understand why winter looks like the beginning of autumn in this picture.
Photo: Richard Philip
A Tudor garden. Nobles who wanted to be in Queen Elizabeth’s good graces built gardens like these in their estates for her to enjoy when she visited them during her annual progress (yearly tour through the kingdom).
Their vying for the Virgin Queen’s attention ensured that thrifty Elizabeth could live in luxury at the expense of her nobles, who were eager to please her with the best food, entertainment and accomodation.
The design for Tudor gardens - including the knotted hedges in the four sections - were based on Thomas Hill’s gardening manual titled Gardener’s Labyrinth. Thomas Hill was an astrologer and a book translator. Besides gardening books he produced works on a range of subjects including the interpretation of dreams, arithmetic, physiognomy and astrology. He wrote the Gardener’s Labyrinth under the pseudonym Didymus Mountain.
Photo: Richard Philip
An open space with a yellow door that opens automatically and very slowly. In New Zealand everything is relaxed; including automated doors.
Photo: Richard Philip
The Huddleston Airship. It flies and delivers mulch throughout the Hamilton Gardens, when you aren’t watching. The Huddleston Airship is a nod to steampunk subculture that has its source in Victorian-era science fiction (think HG Wells and Jules Verne) and real developments in technology that were taking place during the Industrial Revolution.
Airships like these, also known as dirigible balloons, did in fact take flight during the 19th century. Non-rigid airships are called blimps, rigid ones, zeppelins.
The first steam-powered airship - built and piloted by French engineer Jules Henri Giffard - lifted off on the 24th of September 1852, fifty-one years before the Wright Brothers' first flight. Traveling at about 10km per hour, Giffard traveled almost 27km from the Paris racecourse to the French city of Élancourt in north-central France.
Photo: Richard Philip
This is the entrance of a traditional Māori garden where kumara (sweet potato) is grown, but more than that, gardens like these have deep historical meaning for the Māori.
Photo: Richard Philip
It’s the small touches that make this city beautiful. Doesn’t that little red door put a smile on your face…