Hanmer Springs with Bike HQ

Hanmer Springs is pronounced HaMNer Springs. Don't ask me why. But it's a fricken awesome place. Especially when you holiday there with a group of crazy-ass kiwis. So where do I begin? It was only an overnight trip, but it was definitely one of the best weekends we've had here yet. We left around 9am from Christchurch and rode up in the work van with Craig's boss Hamish and another dude. Once we got there, the boys took off for a short mountain bike ride while I and two other girls went off to walk and window shop. After about an hour we all met back and then made our way to the adventure company a few minutes drive out of Hanmer. This is where the fun really begins.

Here we all (well all the boys and me and one other girl) hopped onto some four-wheelers (known here as quad-bikes) and took off for about an hour or so around the dried up river beds, backpasture paths and other interesting terrain. If one drove fast enough through what little water was still in the river you'd get soaked. Drive a quad bike was a lot like driving a snowmobile, only without the snow. I was very grateful for my experience on snowmobiles because it was very hard to keep up with the overenthusiastic boys. But I tried.

We then went back to the house that Craig's boss rented which was one of the nicest houses I've ever seen available to people to actually stay in for a holiday. It was just that...a private house that the owners were renting out for that weekend. And it was such fun. The boys went for another ride while us ladies sat around chatting for a bit. When they got home we all put on our bathing suits (known here as Toggs) and went down to the hot pools.

Hanmer is a very geothermal area filled with natural hot pools all Over the place. But someone decided it would be a smart idea to build a water-park type resort around some of these hot pools, filter them so they are a bit more sanitary, put in a 25 metre swimming pool and some waterslides and charge every tourist five or ten bucks to get in. And even though the idea of capitalising on nature and stuff is kind of sickening and annoying...Well, whoever decided to this was bang on with that idea. And from the tourist end, the money was well spent (especially since a hot pool that is not filtered is remarkably unsanitary and very dangerous to one's health). The mini water park was littered with all sorts of different pools, some hotter than others, some bigger than others, all with signs explaining what sort of natural elements and minerals were in each. The water slides were fun and took me back to my younger days with Colleen and Celeste at Darien Lake, and it was just much too cold for the lap pool so I decided to avoid that. Apparently the place is open year-round; even when there is a foot of snow covering the land. I'd like to go back during that time of year to see what it's like. Who knows, maybe I will. We're only two hours away, if that.

So after the hot pools we went to dinner at the Saints pizzeria and bar. Well, this is the first time in a while that I've felt the itch to party it up...so I did just that. I made a new friend in the process and played some pool. I must add that I played some AMAZING pool actually....I sunk shots that I never thought I'd come close to hitting, ricocheting the cue ball off one wall, and hitting the eight ball into the corner pocket on its way back. I was a little drunk so I was pretty proud of myself...probably more proud of myself than I should have been. Ha.

But it was fun to chat it up and drink it up with some cool kids. We then came back and found places to sleep (we got the six couch cushions which turned out to be a pretty good bed after all). Craig and I woke relatively early, went for a run up and then down Conical hill...a steep uphill where at the top you can see 360 degress around to all the surrounding mountains and houses. Pretty nice view. Then the guys went for another ride (only some of the guys...the others were pretty hungover and decided to stick it out with the ladies). SO the rest of us went shopping, laid down on the quad grass and bathed in the sun, chatting about everything and nothing. The guys returned just as the clouds began to move in and then we were off home again.

It was a pretty jam-packed weekend but fun and relaxing nonetheless...which is always a much needed thing.

The following day Craig and I took off for our little trip around the South Island..which we are still on. So once we return home I'll let you all know how it went. I can say so far that is has been an amazing trip and my love for tramping and mountaineering is only growing. No, I promise I won't ever be attempting Everest, but we're going to try for our first 1500 metre peak tomorrow (a far cry from Everest's 8000+ metres or even any of the highest peaks in NZ at 3000+ metres) but it's still a start and a big deal and should be a lot of fun. So far we've done one at 650 metres near the glaciers, so tomorrow should be a good challenge!

I'll let you know if that air is thinner up there. Haha!

-NMK