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Published: March 23rd 2009
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26/2/09 = Hot Pools in Hanmer Springs
Terrible, terrible nights sleep last night! So bad, it was actually comical in parts. Firstly, woke up an innumerable amount of times to awful, itchy sandfly bites. They now look and feel like chickenpox and even rival that level of itchiness! Way, way worse than mosquito bites. On top of this, we also had one of the worlds worst ever snorers in our room. He was no ordinary snorer...he could have won awards. He woke every single person up in room, until at 3am, we were all awake. Lady sleeping on bunk above me was especially mad. She was rolling around, banging her arms, huffing and puffing; think it actually could have been her that woke me up. Anyway, once awake, none of us could get back to sleep, so took it in turns to defeat the snorer. Shouted randomly and some people were even swearing loudly, which we all started laughing at, because we were so mad, we could only laugh or cry. He didn't even flinch with all shouting. I got up and went to toilet and slammed door behind me. When got back, he was stirring and snoring subsided. All
Sulphur pool
Smelly, but lovely. took our chance to beat him back to sleep. Nearly did it, but train sound returned after just 5minutes. That did it. Guy above him woke him up and told him to turn over. Before he had even turned, head went under pillow and straight to sleep...quick. Could continue with this story for pages, because he woke us all up again...and again, but instead, will start from where I woke up to 7am alarm.
Too itchy to snooze (hate you sandflies) and v.early to be awake. Wrote diary for a while, had porridge breakfast, then checked out and headed for seal swim - v.excited, and actually a little nervous...dark shapes in water...sea water...not a good thing for me! Were early, so had a nosey around town, showed Deb rings had seen and purchased favourite/most expensive one. Bought underwater camera ready for trip, then checked in with company at 11am. Few people waiting and started to get more excited. Instructors didn't really speak to us much and didn't know what was happening, but then lady instructor returned and told us that 11am swim had to be cancelled because of "poor visibility and a lack of seal activity". Oh no! Really,
The spa
Don't overlook the famous mountain backgrounds...they get everywhere! really wanted to do it and had stayed in Kaikoura longer than planned especially. Gutted! They gave us option of waiting for next swim at 12:30 with "possibilty things might have changed", but couldn't afford to hang around any longer, so had to give up on seal swim dream and head back to car 😞 Added insult to injury = just bought underwater camera for $25; what a waste! Lucky had new ring to cheer me up ... a little.
Set off to Hanmer Springs and stopped at v.nice fudge shop on way. Deb got some to cheer her up; me still trying to be good for lent + I had ring to cheer me up. Took touring route to Hanmer and only took 2 hours. Was the same amazing scenery that this country always provides. Got there at 1:30 and really pleased to see that was nice, chilled town. Checked into nice YHA, left bags and walked couple of metres to supermarket. Opted for the winning meal of spaghetti on toast. Couldn't afford cheese for top, so got 'cheesy spaghetti' = brilliant invention! Ate way more than needed to - can't even remember last time I only had
2 slices of toast - then waddled off to library. Reallt pleased to find free internet and caught up on few messages. 30mins later, belly a little less podgy, headed over to Hot Springs. Had to pay $12 to get in, but was suprised how big it was. Had a normal swimming pool, 3 big hot pools, 3 rock pools and 3 sulphur pools. Where to start!?! Smelt like Rororua straight away, but got changed and headed into first big hot pool. Was beautiful...so hot. Crawled straight in and onto chair. Flopped about for 10mins, then realised just how hot it was. Actually felt on fire. Now made sense why nobody stayed there long. Literally felt like were cooking from inside, so both skulked out and into a rock pool. Was much cooler than first (which had been 39degrees) and actually got quite cold in that one. Can feel a Goldilocks situation coming on! Didn't stay in that too long and hopped over to Sulphur pool = source of all smell. Managed to block out smell (Deb couldn't ignore it) and laid in pool, lounging in sun that was out too. After 10mins, same thing happened again...got too hot. Was
a combination of heat and smell that drove us out of that pool and into a different rock pool. This one was the furthest away, had a brilliant view of mountains in background and also happened to be the perfect temperature. Stayed in there chatting for ages. It even had cool fountains to spray and massage backs.
Couldn't stay in there forever and when got out into cold, ran straight back for heat of first pool. Had forgot how hot it got and got book out to read while lounging. Didn't even last 10mins this time before got out nearly fully cooked. Was 6pm anyway, so decided to head back to hostel...had been there a good few hours. Had to do some washing when got back = where mini disaster occurred. Hung clothes on window handle to dry and turned round just in time to see wind blow clothes clean off handle and onto outside of window below. Oh no! Clothes were no sitting on the floor of an inaccessable balcony (don't know why it existed really), several metres off ground. Only way to retrieve clothes = to crawl through window. Not as easy a job as it sounded.
Window already came up to my chest and although could crawl on side of bathroom to get out, didn't know how I could get back in. Went to get Deb and tell her what I was doing - just in case I got stuck - and slipped out of window. From other side, had to pull myself up just using hands and elbows, but managed to belly flop through gap and slide to indoors again. Lesson learned: Never hang clothes on a window handle!
Made dinner after that = rice - v.nice. Booked flight for end of NZ trip, caught up on some blogs, then went off to bed. Wrote diary for a little while, then laquered legs in cream. Sandfly bites at height of itchiness; actually painfully itchy. Sleep then...hope cream stops itch 😞
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