"This scene is oh so familiar, of my many trips to the land of the Pharaoh, and yet - it’s not.”
It has been two and a half years since we were plunged into this pandemic. But now we are finally able to emerge from the safety of our cocoon, cautiously peering around the opening doors of our internment to tentatively step across the threshold to rediscover everything that used to be so familiar. Slowly Roscoe - just baby steps first.
As New Zealanders, we were known for our wanderlust and this confinement has been difficult for many of us. Never before has our national flightless bird symbol been so appropriate. The more adventurous of us are now stepping over the threshold to rediscover Europe, the Middle East, South America, Africa. For those less adventurous - maybe a tentative trip to Australia or Fiji.
Once again becoming familiar with queues, security guards, immigration officers, bag searches and (horrors) the possibility of a more invasive body search. The longest journey of a thousand miles always begins with the first step and we have to start somewhere.
The first of the cruise ships have begun to return and before we know it we will be welcoming international students and foreign workers and life will begin again - until the next time.
So here I am - sitting beside a long colonnaded sandstone and block wall surrounding a sanctuary. Brightly painted columns cast shadows over a shallow reflective pool reflecting the image of a distant blue sky while the mirrored surface is occasionally disturbed by fish flitting about the lotus and papyrus plants just beneath the surface.
At the end of the colonnade sits a temple decorated in the images of a long forgotten Pharaoh and his Queen, making offerings to an also long forgotten God; the colours painted on the hieroglyphs and carvings so bright and colourful, that they could have been painted last week. The flagstones - hot beneath my sandalled feet help create a microclimate that protects the enclosure from beyond the walls; the air here is calm and the atmosphere reflective and tranquil.
Any minute I am expecting a pesky peasant in a dirty white galabeya to jump out from behind a column and try to sell me an “original” fake ushabti figurine, or offer to guide me to some ancient tomb just off the beaten track, behind some dodgy looking building, occupied by equally dodgy looking characters - also in dirty white galabeyas. This scene is oh so familiar, of my many trips to the land of the Pharaoh and yet - it’s not.
I have discovered that we don’t need to leave home to discover the delights of the world or my beloved Egypt. It is in fact, already on our very own doorstep. This is not a garden in paradise, but in the Waikato, not a twenty four hour flight away, but a short trip down the newly opened Waikato expressway.
Car-lotta, the wonder van, had been sadly neglected over the past few months and it was time for a trip around the North Island to blow off the cobwebs, charge up the icebox and further deplete the lagging supply of duty free gin - with the first stop being the Hamilton Gardens.
All through the pandemic, the trust that runs the gardens, has been continuing to work, and in May this year opened their latest opus, the ancient gardens of Egypt.
On this 55 hectare site bordering the Waikato River, you can visit just about every type of garden you can imagine. It’s a tourist attraction that, pre-covid, drew one million visitors a year, and yet a lot of Aucklanders have never heard of Hamilton Gardens, let alone visited them. If they did they would return again and again.
Begun in the early 60s in the city's rubbish dump, they now exhibit twenty eight gardens covering their evolution throughout mankind. And more are planned.
So Egypt is not quite your thing? You can walk around the corner and visit gardens inspired by the Taj Mahal, maybe the Char Bagh - the “Paradise Garden,” its flowers laid out in front of the open pavilion like a beautiful Persian rug, or maybe the Japanese garden of quiet contemplation, then finish with the Italian Renaissance Gardens where, any moment, Romeo and Juliet may expound their undying love from the balcony, or perhaps wander an English flower garden before exploring the castle ruins. All of this is within a 90 minute drive and not an immigration officer with rubber gloves in sight.
Don’t leave home until you’ve seen it. (ROSS THORBY)
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