Saturday 31/1/15

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Saturday 31/1/15 Pohara to Hamner Springs. Another long interesting and pleasant drive, over the Takaka Hill again then along a valley following a river, another couple of 'saddles' and the scary bridge of doom! Hamner Springs is advertised as an Alpine Spa resort and it is pretty high up. We arrived at our motel, which looked more like a b&b than some of the city motels we've seen, checked in and went for a walk. HS reminds me of what I imagine Moffat most have been like in its heyday as a Spa town or perhaps in the tourism that followed. It seemed only proper to make use of the spa and pools since we were there and I had my first swim of the holiday (I know - so much for swimming every day). The thermal pools were interesting, ranging in temp from 35C to 42C, some were clear and free from sulphur others were cloudy and very smelly. Apparently the sulphur make your skin feel silky smooth so it seemed to be worth it. While I was luxuriating in smelly pools Ian was checking menus and beer! A worthwhile pursuit as we still had to get an evening meal. We ended up in a place called Robbies, a Scottish theme apparently which was ok but the waiter/barman was very knowledgeable about beer and has given Ian a card with his name and directions to go to a bottle shop in Dunedin.

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