Saturday, January 29, 2011

Our picnic at Sanitorium Hill

Wednesday was a beautiful sunny day, so Bryan thought that a picnic on Sanatorium Hill would be a lovely way to spend the afternoon.  Bryan, Peter, Zoe (Bryan's Mum), Verna (Peter's Mum), John, Lee and I packed up blankets, chairs and all the picnic fixings, and off we went!

Sanatorium Hill was once the site of a TB Sanatorium, where TB patients when to recuperate from the disease,  The setting was spectacular - peaceful, warm, with a gentle breeze and a view to die for!  I suspect that people recovered very well there.


As we finished our lunch and were getting ready to pack up, a fellow came along on a huge mowing machine, to mow the lawns.  He told us to take our time, that he would do the area we were using last.  But, we were finished anyway.  However, we did get him to take a picture of all of us!

After lunch we did a walk around the area, and out to an overlook with spectacular views!  We had lots of photo opportunities along the way, and Verna gathered wild mushrooms to have for dinner that night!  I thought that she was very brave!


After Sanatorium Hill we drove to Lake Karapiro.  Lake Karapiro is located on the Waikato river (the same one we walked along into town), and is fed by Lake Taupo, which is 2000 feet above Lake Karapiro.  The water  was being released into the Waikato via the Karapiro dam - quite an impressive sight!

What a wonderful Wednesday!


Making sandwiches for our picnic lunch.

All settled in and relaxing on Sanatorium Hill!

Zoe and Verna, relaxing and enjoying the day.

This picture was taken by David - our friendly lawnmower guy.
You can see Hamilton, off in the distance.

This shot was taken from the lookout, overlooking the Waikato valley.
There's Bryan, Lee,John, Verna (with a hat full of mushrooms!), Peter, and Zoe.

Water flowing from the lake into the Waikato river, at full speed!

The Waikato river, in all it's splendor, and very full.

Beautiful Lake Karapiro, on the other side of the dam.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The view behind you at the Lookout looks almost like Ireland.