Waterfalls and Thermal Pools, and mini-golf at last!
After our short stay in Motueka our next bed was in Hanmer Springs, a small alpine village 350km away. We were in no rush to get there however, making several stops along the way and taking some of the more scenic routes.Our first destination was a tiny village called St Arnaud, or more precisely the nearby Lake Rotoiti. Rotoiti is part of the Nelson Lakes National Park. It is a very small lake by New Zealand standards but was still very pretty, particularly with the views of the southern alps in the background. We did a short walk through a beautifully peaceful beech forest before sitting down by the lake to eat a freshly baked New Zealand pie.
After another spectacular drive, this time along a river called the 'Bulla', we reached the other landmark in the Nelson Lakes, Lake Rotoroa. This was much bigger and so to get a better view I made Emily scramble up a 4wd track for 45 minutes to reach a lookout point. She eventually admitted that it was worth it, if in a slightly begrudged tone.
Following a tea break and a fuel stop in the small town of Murchison we carried on with our journey, this time winding up through the Southern Alps and up to the spectacular 907m high Lewis Pass. When we finally arrived at Hanmer Springs it was cold, grey and damp (thus reminded us of home) but we were at least there in time for supper.
Unfortunately the bad weather hadn't cleared by the morning so we spent the first half of the day making our plans for the rest of our time in New Zealand. When it finally did stop raining we jumped in our rickety Nissan for the short drive to Hanmer Forest were we did a walk on 'Waterfall Track'. As we didn't know anything about the waterfall we were hiking towards we had assumed that it would be fairly small and uninspiring. It was a very pleasant surprise then when we saw the gallons of water gushing over the top of the falls and crashing into the rocks about 100ft below. It was quite a sight, and we were the only people around for miles.
The waterfall track was supposed to take 3 hours to complete, but we did it in about an hour and fifty minutes. With this feat we were not only very smug about our current levels of fitness and walking skill, but we were also due a bath. Fortunately Hanmer Springs is the main thermal resort on the south island, and entrance to the Hanmer Springs Thermal Reserve is very affordable, even for stingy backpackers. We spent a couple of hours lounging about in and hopping between the 12 thermal pools. The pools ranged in temperature from 35 to 41 degrees, the latter of which were a little bit uncomfortable but supposedly full of silica goodness. By the end of our two hours our inner-selves were well and truely warmed.
It was unknown to us before we arrived but Hanmer Springs also seems to be the mini-golf capital of New Zealand; there are three, yes that's right, three different mini-golf courses to choose from. Clearly we were not about to pass up on this opportunity so, on the morning of our departure, we made time for a round. We chose to do the Alpine mini-golf because on this course each hole was based (if sometimes rather loosely) on a local landmark - it seemed a lot more appropriate than the gold-mine themed course. It was a tense match but in the end, despite Emily getting some of her characteristic lucky hole-in-ones, I beat her comfortably, thereby regaining the pride that I lost in such unfortunate circumstances in Townsville.
The final destination on our very enjoyable New Zealand road trip was Christchurch. However, being only 140km from Hanmer Springs we decided that to take advantage of our last day with the Old Tin Can and first head in the opposite direction to Kaikoura. This very popular tourist town is known for its whale spotting cruises but it is also a very pretty place, being set on a mountain-backed bay. Although we were only there for a few hours it was a very worthwhile visit: we had fish & chips on the beach, we saw the peninsular and the surroundings from two different viewpoints, and we even saw some of the native New Zealand Fur Seals.
We headed back to Christchurch on the final leg of our road trip feeling extremely content about our time with 'The Old Tin Can'. The thought of giving it up was a little bit saddening; not only did we have to give up the extra freedom and independence that we had so enjoyed, but we would also have to start carrying our backpacks around once again.
Chris
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